Fractured Dreams and a touch of Harmony
by Srey
Summary: A Tenno violently taken from his war-torn world is forced to land in Equestria, where he discovers a sapient race of equines naturally gifted in Void powers. Except it's called magic here. His quest to return home will take him through a journey of self-discovery, about the Void, Friendship, peace, Humanity, and the truth behind the Warframes and the Tenno.
1. Prologue part one: Normal day in Hell

**Prologue : Raid Mission**

* * *

 _-"Hello everyTenno! And everypony! This is co-author Srey. "_

 _-"Along with author Necromarc presenting to you this wild idea of mine."_

 _-"After many years of lurking and just reading fanfics, we've decided to contribute our own! "_

 _-"Took us lots of time, painful re-writing and editing and a whole lot of duct tape, but heck in the end good things can come out of it."_

 _-"I still don't know why you needed so much duct tape... Anyways, knowledge of Warframe and MLP isn't mandatory for this fic, though it is recommended."_

 _-"Describing the suits of armor they wear isn't easy."_

 _-"That's because you're lazy… Moving on, I'd like to thank Green Moriyama and Pike713 for their efforts with reviewing and improving this chapter!"_

 _-"Comments and feedback would be truly appreciated, along with any errors you feel need to be fixed."_

 _-"Before I let you into the story, a small warning, the prologue will get a little dark, nothing too much, but that's because of the Warframe side of things. Things should turn around when the MC arrives in Equestria"_

 _-"Yeah well ponies will arrive soon, just not today."_

 _-"Indeed. Though the ponies aren't going anywhere, it's the Main Character who will arrive in Equestria (I know, not the most original idea, though I'd like to think this MC is different enough to make this interesting). Just give him a chapter or two to get ready. He's still searching for the best flight and a good hotel!"_

 _-*Insert maniacal laughter* "That'd be the last of his worries."_

 _-"And lastly, DISCLAIMERS!"_

 _Both Warframe and MLP FIM are owned by DE and Hasbro respectively._

* * *

 ***First Person POV***

I continued to run through the corridors, empty save for the occasional control pad, ice patches forming from the extreme cold and men in space combinations and rectangular helmets attempting to halt my progress. The latter was largely predominant, to my pleasure. Their methods were confined to attacking me with laser weapons or electrified batons, all mixed with them shouting insults. There was probably over a hundred of them, as well as countless hovering drones and bipedal robots called MOAs, all with one goal: to turn me into a lifeless corpse for them to study.

They didn't stand a chance.

"Kill the damn Tenno!" One of the men ahead of me shouted, aiming his rifle in my direction.

Barely slowing down, I grabbed his face between my Warframe's clawed hands, and within a second, his helmet had crumpled as his now crushed brain oozed out. Throwing the corpse at his squad, I drew my favorite weapon: the massive jet powered hammer, Jat Kittag. With it I dashed at the group that was distracted by the flying body. My own strength enhanced by the jet allowed me to easily smash through their ranks. Corpus bodies impacted the walls and the sound of bones cracking and organs being crushed resonated as blood trickled out from their suits. To think that after all this time they still haven't been able to ring the alarms. Not that I ever let them, from the beginning I had been sprinting throughout the ship, dispatching them before they even had time to get close to any control panel to warn the rest of the ship.

Reaching the end of the corridor, I entered what seemed to be a locker room, complete with another squad waiting in ambush. Seemed like that Corpus that was trying to use his radio managed to at least open a connection before I broke it up, his head with it. Gunfire erupted and my already damaged shields finally gave in, but my armor easily weathered their shots. I spotted the control panel on the opposite wall, a Corpus crewman attempting to interact with it. I rushed the first man and propelled him into the crewman next to the panel, killing them both, then used my hammer to block incoming fire. That bought me a few seconds to analyse their movement.

This room had three accesses; one from which I came and the other two to my left and right, each facing two groups of lockers. The enemy forces were regrouping towards the right locker group, using it as cover. By themselves they would have had better chances if they had stayed spread out and attempted to take me down with overlapping fire. They must have wanted me to take cover behind the left group of lockers, which would conveniently leave my back turned to the left door. Not a bad plan, but poor execution.

A powerful jump allowed me to reach the ceiling, from which I dived towards the center of the group. I channeled the Void into my Jat Kittag as I brought it down onto the ground, causing a massive shockwave that sent their bodies flying into the walls and ceiling. I quickly stepped behind a locker and took a stance as I winded my hammer, just as the left door predictably opened and a group of MOAs and drones burst through. I gave a yell as I swung the Jat Kittag into the locker, sending it speeding like a giant bullet into the enemy robots, effectively neutralizing them into nothing more than metal scraps and electric wires. I jumped through an air vent and dropped to the lower levels.

Unfortunately, the room I landed in was empty, and so was the next corridor ahead. No sign of life or robotics. It felt rather disappointing really. But the sound of a Corpus shouting "Die Traitor!" accompanied with gunfire reassured me as a large group of corpus came guns blazing out from the only door into the room, escorted by more MOAs and a few shield drones. One of the soldiers was a Nullifier, his shield bubble surrounding him and his friends. It also had the nasty side effect of nullifying any Void powers within his shield, something that I really detest. As the Corpus fired their guns at me, I rolled out of the way, dodging their fire with ease. Noticing how Corpus troops huddled around the nullifier, I had an idea. I drew my repeating crossbow, the Attica, to start my counterattack. Although a crossbow as mentioned, the rate the explosive tipped bolts spewed out of it could match most machine guns. Thus, the nullifier bubble quickly shrank then vanished as explosions replaced the sight of the Corpus.

A few survivors had the idea to spread out, but a few more precise shots ended their measly resistance as well. I looked around to find complete destruction. Blood spewed from broken bodies, pooling in holes here and there while fire consumed whatever was left. The alarms began resounding and I found a nearly dead Corpus lying next to a console, his helmet torn off, showing terror-filled eyes that gazed up at me while his bloody arm rested on the console. His other hand clutched a destroyed pistol of which he desperately tried pulling the non-existent trigger. I groaned as I took a look at the mission status. It took them almost eight minutes, sixty-three Crewmen, two hundred and thirty-four MOAs and ninety-seven drones to successfully ring the alarm. Not a bad performance, but it wouldn't earn me any bragging rights back at the clan dojo. At least it was only my third mission today; I still had plenty of opportunities to break a record.

"Why… W-why won't it just die?" I heard him whisper as he gasped for air. I've heard this line from so many that I knew on the fly how to answer to it.

"Because you're all too weak" I answered him, followed with a wicked laugh as I struck his body with my Jat Kittag. The impact easily crushed his abdomen as a shockwave reverberated throughout his body, liquefying his innards as they gushed out of his now lifeless corpse, repainting the floor and walls. The alarms continued to wail, and I heard multiple voices coming from different rooms around. No doubt the Corpus were now on the active hunt. Well, because the alarms were now on, I wouldn't need to go hunting for them either. But I did not stay afoot in the same room, since my ultimate objective was not to kill as many Corpus as I wanted. At least not this time.

After a couple more skirmishes as I sprinted through the rooms of this ship, I ended up in a massive room. Four tall pillars stood halfway to the center, forming a square shape. At the edge of the room were deep ditches that led to electrifying circuits below. As I glanced upwards and around, I saw more doorways on separate stories. Suddenly, a massive mechanical door opened to reveal a huge quadrupedal robotic creature standing six meters tall. With its yellow exo-skeleton and high-pitched screeching, it stomped as if to intimidate me. On the side, an escort of crewmen with a Nullifier and drones followed it. Finally, I had reached my target: the Corpus proxy codenamed the Jackal.

It wouldn't go down easily and my armor wouldn't hold out against their combined firepower. Attempting to find cover would be an exercise in futility as well. Mobility was key for this battle. Aside from the Jackal, the others would be simple to take care of. But first, I needed to remove that nullifier bubble else I won't be able to use my Void powers freely.

All hell broke loose as everyone opened fire. The Jackal stood behind its lackeys and fired a hail of rockets. I charged at maximum speed towards the Nullifier, using my Jat Kittag to block most of the incoming fire. As I passed the edge of the bubble, I felt my link to the Void vanish, disabling my powers. The first of the rockets had already reached my position, but it splashed against the bubble, taking a nearby crewman in the blast. I knew however that bubble wouldn't survive the full volley, so I hurriedly smashed the Nullifier. Immediately I felt my powers returning, as well as the incoming rockets. I unleashed the Void and activated Ripline. My power condensed into a rope shape, stretching from my hand to the top of the nearest pillar. Immediately the Ripline pulled me towards it with great speed, narrowly avoiding the rocket volley which instead took out several crewmen and MOAs.

I landed on the side of the pillar and latched myself onto it. From this vantage view, I could easily pick off the drones one by one. Sheathing my Jat Kittag, I gripped my dual rapid firing pistols Akzani and started destroying anything that hovered above the enemy, taking out a couple of Corpus men here and there.

However, my shields were struggling against their retaliation fire, and the Jackal shot another rocket volley at my position. Just before they would hit, I propelled myself from the pillar towards the densest group of enemies. Holstering my pistols, I brought my hammer down to the ground, creating a Void enhanced shockwave that sent the newly made enemy corpses flying. At that moment, I released my fury with a Warcry that shook the whole room. Void energy increased my strength dramatically as my armor doubled in resilience. With my melee weapon in one hand and one of my Akzani in the other, I unleashed a spray of fire while blocking incoming fire with the Jat Kittag. The Jackal was now moving towards me in an attempt to pummel me down as I was taking out its escort.

Only a handful of Corpus crewmen remained, though they were scattered across the room. I thought for a moment to use Ripline towards a column and dispatch them from above with the Attica, but I was pretty sure using that tactic again would only end up with a face full of rockets. Still, my shields had begun regenerating, so I had another option. I used Ripline on the Jackal, and as soon as I got within range, I discharged my shields outwards in a wave of paralyzing energy. It only lasted a few seconds, but that's all it took me to finish off the last few Crewmen. Now, nothing was standing between me and my prey.

The quadruped raised one of its legs as I charged at it. With the strength of a truck, my Jat Kittag collided with the Jackal's right front leg as it was stomping back down to the ground.

The room was filled with the deafening sound of screeching metal while the ground beneath me shook from the resisted stomp. Although my body flew to the opposite side of the room, I braced myself as I crashed feet-first into the wall, causing my feet to burrow deep into the metallic wall as my hands prevented me from going any further than knee deep. Meanwhile, the Jackal stumbled, although it regained back its balance after a few seconds. I tore my feet out of the wall and threw myself towards one of the pillars with my Jat Kittag ready to take it down. I Shattered it, sending pieces flying towards the lumbering hunk of metal. The Jackal easily tanked the damage inflicted. It attempted to throw another attack at me with one of its legs but I deflected it with a downward swing, burying that leg in the floor.

While it tried to get its member back out of the ground, another hail of missiles flew out of its back. In an attempt to flee from the incoming barrage, I sidestepped and jumped to the wall, running along it with the missiles hot on my tail. The missiles eventually died on their chase, exploding behind me. But the Jackal had sent two more volleys on their way towards me, one to my left and another to my right. I knew I couldn't dodge them all. I slammed one hand into the wall under my feet, halting me halfway between the two missile volleys, timing a jump as they were about to reach me. As I leapt off the wall, the damage from the explosions was almost unbearable, dropping my shields and impacting my armor. But the explosions also became a boost to my jump, sending me at near supersonic speeds towards the Corpus proxy as I readied my massive hammer to strike. With a solid impact, I caused an enormous hole in its side and sent it flying at the other wall. A cloud of dust erupted from the then-created debris, coating the surroundings. I walked into it with a calm composure.

I searched for the massive droid within the dust mist, trying to confirm my kill. Suddenly, a massive mechanical arm flew from the gloom. I barely had a chance to bring my weapon to block the blow, but for all my efforts I was sent flying into a column. The Jackal brought up its chest and fired a laser, its power kicking me through the column, destroying it and causing debris to fall around me. It didn't have that weapon before, and there were no reports of any upgraded models made by the Corpus. I must be the first to face one then.

Gladly, the debris did not rain on the area where I had fell. Even then, as my body dropped to the floor, the Jat Kittag somehow still in my hands, the sound of alarms resonated inside my suit as my barely recovered shields were taken out and my armor was badly damaged in numerous places, some of them bleeding. I had only so much strength left in me as I kneeled on the ground, struggling to stand. But something within me began to boil and a feral growl escaped me.

If this guy wanted to play bad, I'd play bad.

I sheathed my weapon at my back. I unleashed a deafening roar, channeling my powers into the Hysteria ability. The air around me thickened as two sets of claws comprised of pure green Void energy encompassed my hands. My body started glowing with the same energy as my veins felt spirited.

"Now I'm pissed!"

The creature screeched, and with one of its limbs, sent out another great shockwave that shook the entire room. But the wave splashed harmlessly against the green energy surrounding me. The Jackal then brought its huge foreleg up into the air. While anyone would flinch at the massive momentum the Jackal was attempting to pack in this attack, it did not faze me at all.

Nothing was getting past my energy field. Nothing could break it. I was invincible.

I grabbed the leg with one of my claws as it was descending, halting it. As I channeled energy into my claws, causing them to shine brighter than ever, my grip on the leg tightened, crushing it. After releasing another cry, it tried to fire its laser at me. But before it had the chance to aim I leaped onto its right foreleg, digging my hand into the joints of the leg.

 _ ***SCREEEEEEECH***_

The sound of metal tearing reverberated about the chamber as I severed the connection between its leg to the rest of its body. The creature, reaming on its hind legs, tumbled down. I brought up its broken leg and used it to batter the Jackal's body like a war drum. Its other legs broke, but the Jackal did not give up. It tried to fire another series of rockets, but they were no more effective than everything else it had tried. Rather, as the rockets exploded on impact with me, they had damaged the Jackal itself. I jumped on top it and began clawing at the exterior of the machine, ripping it apart piece by piece until I had dug through most of its body. Every hit from my claws also drained it of its energy, feeding my Warframe, healing it.

It could barely do anything as I brought its head up, and with a swift motion, ripped it from its body. Within seconds, the sound of its engines died as the light within its machine dimmed into nothingness. As I stood on its body, its head in my hand, I looked around the battlefield, noting that the whole place was destroyed. Parts of the ceiling were beginning to fall, as the remaining pillars were incapable of holding the ceiling's weight alone. The ground was littered with corpses, organic and mechanical alike. Limbs, blood, liquefied organs and lubricants mixed together in puddles throughout.

The alarms were still on, however no one answered the call. I released my power, the green glow vanishing as I dropped the Jackal's head. I picked up my equipment and made my way to the extraction point where my landing craft, the Liset, was waiting.

As I entered my landing craft, the comms crackled to life.

"Target down, assassination contract complete. Great work Tenno." The disembodied voice of the Lotus was heard in my comms, her face appearing in the corner of my vision. A mask in the shape of the eponymous flower covered her eyes and the top of her head.

"I lowered my guard at the end. I could have ended it without Hysteria if hadn't been careless!" I replied tersely. Indeed, if it wasn't for that last second block and my Warframe's considerable armor, I would have taken a mortal blow. All because of a trainee's mistake.

Her voice remained neutral. "That is true. Your carelessness also allowed the enemy to raise the alarms. I trust this will serve as a reminder never to let your guard down." Her tone then softened, a small smile appearing on her lips. "Still, you have successfully remained undetected for a period while clearing the ship at record speeds and your fighting prowess was without flaw. I am proud of you, my child."

Her smile and unexpected praise did wonders to improve my mood.

"Thank you, Mother. I will perform with greater skill next time." I answered, my tone much lighter.

"I know you will"

The mission was completed, I would remember my lesson, and the Lotus was pleased with my performance. Indeed there was no reason to be disappointed. I looked outside the windshield, the sight of outer space greeting me as the Liset sped toward my Orbiter.

 _*Scene Break*_

 **ASSASSINATION MISSION SUCCESSFUL**

 **ITEM REWARDS:  
**

 **10,000 MISSION CREDITS  
**

 **5032 CREDITS**

 **534 POLYMER BUNDLE**

 **1326 ALLOY PLATES**

 **634 CIRCUITS**

 **MOD REWARDS:**

 **NONE**

I watched my latest mission report in the navigation room of the Orbiter, a semicircular room with two large consoles located at the back of the chamber and two smaller ones flanking the navigation unit. The latter consisted of a circular plate placed in the middle of the cockpit with a holographic screen projected above it, displaying available missions.

A windshield gave way to scenery of space, a now lifeless Corpus spaceship floating in the abyss high above the rings of Saturn. The gas giant's atmosphere shined as rays from the sun fell on its stratosphere.

"Operator, I'm so glad to see you back – **covered in blood** \- safe and sound." I heard my ship's AI, the Cephalon Ordis, greet me. Despite being an AI, Ordis had a clearly male robotic voice, one which allowed a surprisingly large range of emotions, even compared to other Cephalons.

"Yeah, I can't say that I have any other places to go." I joked, turning and heading downstairs via the ramp located at the back of the cockpit.

On my right hovered a sentinel, resting in sleep mode: my Helios, a small hovering robot designed to find weak points in enemies and collect data during my missions. On my left, my faithful Slobber, a Sahasa Kubrow, happily snoring in his statis unit, occasionally barking or whimpering. Not only my closest companion, Slobber was also a skilled reconnaissance operative who was able to recover necessary items on the field of battle.

"Hunt that Grineer and bring me back his credits" I smiled, reaching down to scratch his ears. He awoke, tackling me to the ground and the both of us began to play rough. After a couple of minutes, I decided to head downstairs, Slobber following me with a wagging tail.

I found myself in the operator room, a large room where at the back of it white roots came down from the ceiling into other parts of the ship. In front of those roots was my Somatic Link. Slowly opening, it revealed a boy, with white hair, tanned skin and a white piece of metal on his forehead, wearing a complete black suit covering everything from the neck downwards. That was the real me, Charles, the Operator, the Tenno.

Even after all this time, it was still both an entrancing and disturbing sight. It wasn't until the incident with the Moon, which came to be known as the Second Dream, that I, or any Tenno for that matter, learned we used to be human children. A few decades ago we Tenno have begun awakening from cryosleep as two factions, the Corpus and the Grineer, scoured the system for dormant Tenno, with the goal of slaying or experimenting on us. Unfortunately no Tenno had retained their memory from before cryosleep, so we knew nothing of why we were hunted and why we were placed in cryosleep. The only clue to our past was that every single Tenno had one set of memories still intact, our knowledge of warfare, and the Void powers we could unleash through the bodies we awoke in, the Warframes.

The first being almost every Tenno saw and heard upon awakening was the Lotus. She comforted us, guided us, kept us united against the threats that would seek to enslave or destroy us. However, as we progressed, we uncovered more of our past and rediscovered the art of crafting Warframes and switch them, we came to realize those were not our real bodies. Whether we even had a body, or were we beings of energy, needing a Warframe to exist and walk upon the world, no Tenno knew.

It wasn't until many years after we had awoken, when we had to save our "power source" in the Moon from an old foe, that we discovered what we were: the result of experiments by the now extinct Orokin Empire to create super soldiers, children empowered by their link to a dimension known as the Void. The Warframes were an organic and technological body for us to control remotely and channel our Void powers safely.

Maybe to others the Lotus's actions were not justified. She did make world changing decisions behind our backs, decisions that directly affected us Tenno. And she kept us in the dark until events forced her hand. But did I even care? Did the other Tenno care? She is the only one that looked after us. All her actions have been to keep us safe. Anybody else that kept the truth about my identity for so long would have been shredded, their remains burned to ashes, but I knew The Lotus would never turn her back on us. During every crisis she did her best to fix the problem, not for her sake but for ours. She never ordered us into action, only advised us and let each of us decide how to proceed, coordinating our efforts when necessary. Each Tenno could decide which missions and which factions he would deal with. No one else wanted to be called our Mother, but that didn't matter, because no one else deserved it.

Charles' silver eyes looked back at my Warframe with a calm expression.

 _ ***Brzzzt***_

Static filled my mind and I felt myself leaving my Warframe.

 _ ***Brzzzt***_

Ceasing to be Valkyr.

 _ ***Brzzzt***_

Becoming Charles again.

 _ ***Brzzzt***_

Like waking from a dream, I found myself once again in my real body. It was a strange sensation. My body's senses were far duller than those of a Warframe, and yet the world felt more... real. Sounds seemed to resonate more, colors felt more vibrant, and even smell was more distinct. Well, the latter mostly consisted of Slobber's odor. It was easy to spot in the otherwise sanitized air of the Orbiter, a smell I had come to associate with home and safety.

My Valkyr frame fell on the floor as I cut the Transference signal, my senses instantly dulled by the numbness all across my body. After all, I did stay in this seat all day long, doing nothing while my mind is elsewhere. The Somatic Link did keep my body alive and safe, but that's all it did. I sometimes wondered if it also stopped me from aging, seeing as my features have stayed the exact same over the course of the few decades since I'd found my real body. Slowly, I walked out of my seat, stumbling. Slobber caught me and looked at me with a happy face, licking my hands. With his support, I started walking around the room. This time, I managed to keep going for a whole twenty minutes before exhaustion forced me back into my seat. Slobber celebrated my superhuman accomplishment with a few loud, short barks.

"Good boy. I couldn't have done it without you," I smiled at him.

"How can I be of – **why care about me** \- assistance operator?"

"Oh, come now, Ordis. You know you'll always be there to catch me," I chuckled. Ordis was a strange Cephalon. He had served me for as long as I could remember, though some event in the distant past had stripped him of many of his memories and given him some sort of split personality. I always enjoyed that second part of him: never ceased to amuse me.

I looked over my Warframe, a black clad Gersemi Valkyr with her Jat Kittag and Attica strapped on her back, and at the sides, the dual Akzani. Her wing-shaped cape with matching colors completed the picture. In my opinion, Valkyr was one of the most powerful Warframes. She specialized in brute melee, with her high armor allowing her to tank far more extensive damage than other suits, but she remained agile, almost feline. Her Ripline was great for pulling enemies or allies, to swing around objects, or simply jump from place to place. Warcry heightened speed and armor further and since I never relied on Valkyr's energy shields thanks to her massive armor, I could easily discharge part of the shields to paralyze and damage enemies around. Last but not least, Hysteria gave her a nigh invulnerable energy barrier and manifested claws, deadly energy blades that rip the enemy apart and drain their life-force, at the cost of a constant drain on her energy.

The story of how the Tenno came to rediscover her however, is a dark one. The first Valkyr Warframe was found in Corpus laboratories, where it was revealed they hqd found her and experimented on her for decades, to understand Warframe technology. This came before the Second Dream event, so the poor Tenno couldn't even know to disconnect from the Warframe and suffered every second of torture his Warframe went through. Every Warframe has some remnants inside; emotions, fragmented memories, and an attitude, from the Tenno who used the original Frame. Now, Valkyr had the additional emotional and physical scars left by the Corpus experiments, carried on in her blueprints. Those make Valkyr difficult to master, as to wield a Warframe, Tenno project a part of themselves that will then take all the Warframe's self, creating a persona of that Warframe. This process is a required part of the Transference, the process of wielding a Warframe, the persona serving to preserve the Tenno's sense of self. If the Warframe is slain, the persona will share its fate. While it does protect the Tenno, it also means part of oneself will die if the Warframe dies.

Enough reminiscing. Time to decide the most effective use of my next few hours. Doing missions was good training, but a Tenno is not only brawns. If my ciphers are not up to date with the Corpus and Grineer's latest encryption technology I'd risk failing to bypass a security lockdown and fail a mission. I could also go visit Cephalon Simaris, he has the most extensive database of every life form and proxy in the Sol system, perfect to study each being's strengths and weaknesses. Plus his simulation room allows to train against varied groups to improve my tactics and situational awareness. I should send him the update on the Jackal's arsenal, even though I know the Lotus does brief us everytime we take on stronger foes.

Then I remembered I hadn't been to my own clan for a while. There was this new Warframe model that had been discovered, and the blueprints were available in the clan dojos. Plus it had been awhile since we had shared a good story. I smiled, imagining their laughing faces when I told them about how that Corpus was splashed all over the room with just one hit fro-

"Operator, your presence is required at the Kronia relay. You have been asked to meet with Hayden. I suggest you – **hurry up** \- when ready." The disembodied voice of Ordis interrupted my musings.

"Wait, Hayden?" I did a spit take on hearing that name "As in the Excalibur Prime Hayden? The leader of the Zariman clan and one of the first Tenno to be awakened?" Sure, I always did consider myself one of the stronger Tenno out there, but he was a living legend among us.

"Error, I do not seem to have that information. Perhaps going there should provide it to you."

"Right, I'll be on my way." I chuckled. Giving one last hug to Slobber, I strapped myself on the Somatic Link. Looks like I had found how to kill my boredom for the next few hours. As I turned it on, my mind left the waking world and returned to my dreamscape.

I arrived in a dark room of spartan decoration, only the navy blue floor visible. The room was empty and silent. I called it a room, but there were no walls, merely an abyss covered by clouds around the edges of the floor. The only light came from above me, radiating from the countless stars that dotted the sky.

I wasn't alone for long. My Warframes appeared in front of me, in seiza position, all waiting for me to choose which one I would project myself as this time, but the one I wanted was not among them. Valkyr was a few meters to my right, standing tall and looking at me. I smiled.

 _ ***Brzzzt***_

I walked up back to the navigation unit and input the coordinates for the Saturn Relay.

 _*Scene break*_

The doors opened, letting way to six more Warframes, standing in a small circular room with a holo-display placed at the center. Next to the device was a dark grey Excalibur Prime with gold lining, obviously Hayden, with a pink and white Trinity Prime sitting to his left. Facing them, a black and blue Nyx Prime and a crimson red Nekros were deep in conversation, while an Equinox, with his standard black and white patterns reversed was listening with interest. A green and yellow Banshee hung further back, a codex scanner in her hands.

Their colors, and the patterns on their helmets, I recognized some of them: they were high ranking Tenno, each masters of their Warframes. I was almost awed to be in their company, but was mostly excited. There would be a very interesting mission ahead.

"Well, color me curious. What poor fool angered the Lotus enough to deserve **this** kind of attention?" I asked.

"Be patient, we shall begin the briefing as soon as our last member arrives." Hayden answered, turning to face me, his voice calm yet carrying a strong air of authority.

"Maybe we'll finally pay a visit to those Syndicates, teach them to think they could mess with us!" The Banshee's voice was loud and reaching despite her clearly attempting to whisper, a side effect of her Warframe.

"That I strongly doubt: they're useful, and it's not like their little infighting is causing us any harm." replied the Nyx Prime, amused. She drew a heat dagger and started playing with it, levitating it with her power.

"Didn't the Arbiters' Eximus squadron attempt to kill me last mission?! They even attacked you despite you and Sarah being allied with them, just for being in the same squad!" The Banshee was clearly upset by the lack of reaction her point made. She made it clear by grabbing the Nyx Prime's dagger away. "It's not like their little faction conflicts make any sense to us Tenno!"

I guess the Banshee Tenno was still dreaming in a way. I won't blame Tenno like that, but the Sol system has been in conflict for as long as we could remember. First it was the Orokin, making us fight the Sentients, self-aware machines they created that turned against them. Now the Corpus and the Grineer were at war over control of the system, not to mention the Infested constantly seeking to overwhelm us in a tsunami of mutated flesh. And even the Syndicates, factions who supposedly promoted peace and the betterment of humanity, whatever that word meant anymore; seemed to spend more time fighting over how to do it than actually doing it. And despite our skill, us Tenno are so hopelessly outnumbered that the best we could do was keep the balance so that no side can win the war and focus on us. Grineer cloned millions of troops a day on average, and Corpus could churn out similar numbers of drones and MOAs, making it trivial for them to recoup from any loses. We barely reached the ten million Tenno in total, and we had no means to increase our numbers.

"You don't have to be such a spoilsport!" The Nekros sided with the Nyx Prime, retrieving her dagger from the Banshee while he spoke. "I remember you laughing as well when Sarah took over the minds of their leader and made him kill his lieutenants with his bare hands"

The Nyx Prime added to her partner: "Not to mention their surprise when you revived said dead lieutenants and set them on the rest of their squad!" She proceeded to resume her dagger levitation trick.

"Excuse me" came the soft voice of the Trinity Prime. She waited until she was sure we could all hear her but made no effort to raise her voice. "I believe that we are all here now. Shall we begin with the mission briefing?" I looked at her in surprise, as did every other Tenno aside from Hayden, to realize we now had an extra member. A Loki Prime in his formal white and gold colors was standing in between Hayden and the Trinity Prime.

"Certainly. We can continue our banter after we complete the mission" declared the Excalibur Prime. He stood to address us.

"I have received information about a new threat that requires our best elements to deal with. The Lotus, our Mother, tasked me with forming a team, and you are the candidates I have selected". At these words, the room became so quiet you could hear a Tenno meditate. It was an honor to be recognized by one of the highest ranking Tenno in existence.

Hayden continued, pointing towards the Equinox "This here is Jean. Despite being one of the more recently awakened ones, he has shown great skill and dedication to the way of the Tenno. He is also one of the first to discover and make the Equinox Frame and the best one in the system" The Equinox simply bowed his head.

"Here we have Sarah, master of Nyx. She has managed to manipulate multiple enemies with ease and spread chaos within armies." Hayden continued.

"Glad to join you guys for this show." Sarah nodded enthusiastically. Clearly she enjoyed being the center of attention.

"Bluebeard here will join us. He is a brother who has aided me several times, and who has achieved the highest count of successful assassination and extermination missions." He gestured to the Nekros.

"The enemy will regret earning our attention!" Answered the Nekros, his hand caressing the handle of the Scindo Prime battle axe at his side.

"Urza is not only the most famous Banshee Master, and probably the most accurate sharpshooter to boot, but also the quickest hacker that we may ever find."

"For the glory of the Tenno." She responded simply.

"Joining us as well will be Silva and Aegis, co-leaders of one of the largest and strongest clans, The Black Lotus. They have valuable experience leading squads and have saved many missions from certain failure." Hayden looked directly at the Loki Prime. "I heard you were going to use a Mirage, Silva?"

"For the mission, yes. I prefer moving around with my Loki Prime. The other frames lack his… freedom of movement."

"Pleasure to be helping you brothers." Aegis followed in that same barely audible voice, ignoring his partner's comment. I still couldn't say whether he was shy or did so to force others to pay attention to listen to him when he spoke.

"And finally we have Charles, considered to be the most brutal and efficient Valkyr. He has managed to do solo missions where entire squads of Tenno would fail, yet has always been an efficient team member when he did join a squad. Stories of his Jat Kittag are famous in every Relay." He finished, pointing at me.

"I still wonder who deserves such attention: this team is as subtle as a berserk Valkyr." I was exaggerating of course; any Tenno worth his Orbiter could infiltrate nearly anyplace with any Warframe or equipment. But one did not make an eight-man team with some of the highest ranking Tenno, and place a berserker like me, unless there was a grave threat dangerous enough that sending multiple Tenno squads was too risky. And that scenario happened a grand total of two times since the Tenno began awakening.

A small hiss came from the holo-display and the image of our Mother, the Lotus appeared. The top half of her head was hidden from view by her eponymous flower shaped helmet, wires protruding from it. We all gathered around and sat in seiza position, facing her.

"Tenno, I am afraid I bear bad news." Her voice was unusually troubled. "We have received a report of an unknown ship of alien design on its way to the Sol system. Scout teams dispatched to investigate have all gone silent, and even a team of Tenno oriented towards stealth suffered the same fate. They are all dead."

"Wait, why don't those Tenno join us to partake in the briefing? Surely they have recovered from the deaths of their Warframes by now?" Asked Silva.

"No" The Lotus' voice became hesitant. The entire room was deathly quiet as everyone waited for her next words. "By death, I mean the Tenno themselves died. While still in their Orbiters."

The room was silent, as everybody tried to wrap their minds around that fact. And failed. There were few absolute truths since as far as we could remember. War is eternal, Corpus will always have more machines, Grineer will always have more clones, Infested will never stop swarming, and Tenno cannot die. The Somatic Link kept our bodies healthy and safe from the battlefield. Losing a persona was a traumatic experience, but it would heal just like all wounds. Kubrows could die. Agents from the Syndicates could die. Warframes themselves could be destroyed. Our enemies were slain by the hundreds of thousands each day. But never had a Tenno been eliminated for good.

The Second Dream was the closest we came to that happening, but every Tenno had come as one and fought until we recovered our real bodies to the last. A great many Warframes were lost then, but we prevailed. We wouldn't subject any more children to the Void to create more Tenno, but there has never been a Tenno death as far as we could remember.

"It doesn't make sense." Urza muttered, "It's impossible". That brought me from my thoughts. As I looked around, I saw every Tenno in the room was hesitating. For the first time since I could remember, we felt fear, because there was now a chance that some of us wouldn't come back anymore. Suddenly we had to stare death in the face, and it was terrifying.

Soon however, another feeling rose up. I didn't want to run. Not away at least. I wanted to charge at whoever did this. To sink my claws into their bodies, crush their innards with my hammer. I wanted to hear the screams of agony of whoever did this. If death wanted a staring contest, I'd gouge its eyes out and smash its skull into powder.

"I agree, my child. This heresy should never have happened." The Lotus was feeling the same way, judging from the anger in her tone. She took a pause, visibly calming herself. "However, we must focus on the mission. The Tenno that investigated the ship arrived to find it empty. After several hours of searching, they came across a massive chamber. As they continued their search we detected strange readings and then a laser was fired. I lost contact with them soon after. Their Orbiters came back, but the Cephalons reported that the Operators were dead. The most likely suspects are the Sentients, as th-"

 ***THUD***

Everyone turned to see me burying my fist in the wall. All thoughts left my mind except for finding whoever or whatever did this and painting that ship with his body parts, be they flesh or mechanical.

Jean came up and put his hand on my shoulder, attempting to calm me down. "Don't worry, we will avenge our fallen." He said softly. I stared at him, thinking of a reply, but my rage was not so easily subdued, so I hit the wall a few more times, my claws tearing through the reinforced material. Without turning, I asked:

"Where is that ship? When does the mission start?"

"As soon as this briefing is over" Answered the Lotus showing us the coordinates to the ship.

"It is currently located within the Oort cloud." Urza downloaded a copy of the Intel on her personal codex and began analyzing it.

"Must have been hard locating it." Sarah muttered.

"Surprisingly, it was not. The vessel is gigantic, approximately equivalent in size to the moon." Collective gasps were made and several Tenno whispered to each other, I couldn't care less. It just meant more bodies would be needed to repaint it.

"What about our other factions? How have the Corpus and the Grineer reacted?" Aegis inquired.

"As of now, they are not aware of its presence. We were extremely lucky even to have discovered it before it reached the Sol system."

"Yes, you were lucky" A raspy voice came from behind the door. That voice… "Lucky that it was me who found th-"

Before I even realized it, I was standing up at the entrance of the room, my clawed hand around the intruder's throat. Hayden stopped the others from reacting as well then stepped towards me, eyes on my prey, Alad V.

"Release him Charles! Remember, we are in a Relay!" For a moment, I stopped being Valkyr as Charles stirred inside, forcibly relaxing my Warframe. Alad V, one of the Corpus leaders, loved capturing Warframes and experimenting on them, reconstructing them into his so called 'pet' Zanuka. He was directly responsible for the capture of the original Valkyr and for the experiments done on her. I could understand why I would want to take my revenge on him, my being a Valkyr, but a Tenno must always be the master of his emotions and his Warframe.

"Tenno, calm yourselves. Alad V is here under my authority." The Lotus explained.

He was sprawled on the ground, greedily gasping for air. He lifted one of his hands to ask help from the Excalibur Prime, but Hayden simply stared at him, then walked back to the Lotus.

"You Tenno... are... the worst... when it comes to… hospitality." He wheezed, getting back on his feet.

"He is here because he has also detected the strange readings, and has decided to contact us about it."

"Yes of course. After all, it's not every day you find a moon sized space station trying to enter the Sol system undetected." Alad V said. "I tried to infiltrate the place myself you see, however it has been… problematic, as your dear Lotus has explained."

"So, he will be guiding us?" Urza said to the Lotus, obviously not pleased at all.

"He will. He knows the ship's loca-" The Lotus began, before Alad V rudely interrupted her.

"I believe the proper term would be space station for a vessel this size." Alad V was practically jubilating. The fact that every Tenno tensed upon his interruption only further cheered him.

"... space station's" The Lotus corrected herself, "location and has the most complete layout of the inside, including the reactor room."

"I don't trust him one bit." I rasped.

"I was there, helping the Lotus save your Warframe's reservoir during the incident with Hunhow. What more will it take to prove my loyalty? Not that it ever mattered to me." He kept his mocking tone.

"This Frame has never forgotten your… loyalty to the Tenno, as you call it."

"Oh come now, still going on about that old story? I've let go of that a long time ago. You should do the same."

"That's enough Alad V, Tenno." The Lotus ordered. "This briefing is over. Good hunting." With that she cut the communication. We looked at one another then at the Corpus.

"Well… looks like we are finished here." He said, looking at each of us as he exited the briefing room.

Hayden looked around and placed his hand on my shoulder in an attempt to calm me down. "You heard the Lotus, let's move." He ordered.

All the others left, but I remained in the room, staring at the now lifeless holo-display.

We were working with Alad V… again, and we had what could be Sentient enemies, capable of killing us for good. I held back a scream and forced myself to walk out of the room without damaging anything else along the way. No matter how hard we fought, the world remained a messed up place.


	2. Prologue part two: Stare-off with Death

_-"Hello everyTenno! And everypony! Srey here again!"_

 _-"We're back with another chapter, and is it me or does the first part seem longer than before?"_

 _-"Oh… that… I guess someone went and did some ninja Tenno updates? What can I say, it looks better at least! Speaking of which, a big thanks to Green Moriyama for his editing! He was a huge help improving this chapter!"_

 _-"At least no one got harmed."_

 _-"Not yet at least… Corpus don't count!"_

 _-"Same as everything non-Tenno I presume?"_

 _-"You presume right. Well, another thing I noticed, this chapter is suspiciously pony-free! Necromarc, don't we need them in order for this to BE a crossover with MLP?"_

 _-"Yes we do, and we will have them in 3 chapters, unless Murphy says otherwise."_

 _-"Let's not invoke Murphy. Just don't… We're already having enough posting chapters at a decent rate as it is!"_

 _-"Well for a first story we're progressing at a decent rate I suppose."_

 _-"... Maybe… Still, if only you'd stop studying, socializing, and basically having a life, I'm sure you'd be able to post faster. Food for thought?"_

 _-"Since when does playing with other friends Gmod on skype count as socializing?"_

 _-"I just wanted readers to think you actually had a life?... Well, no worries about that happening anymore!"_

 _-"Let's just move on to the disclaimers."_

 _Disclaimer: both Warframe and MLP FIM are owned by DE and Hasbro respectively._

* * *

I arrived back at my Orbiter, my mind still clouded with anger as I tried to process the information.

"Is everything alright Operator?" Ordis asked.

"No, it isn't. Have you observed the mission briefing?" My tone was still aggressive, my thoughts still muddied with rage. I needed to change that. Preparation had to be done on a calm mind, then I could unleash my wrath when the mission started.

"Yes, I do have - **a terrible feeling** \- some doubts about this mission."

 _You and me both..._ I went to one of the leftmost console of my ship, up in the landing craft, and accessed my codex entries with the intent of focusing on the data I had on the Sentients and away from my anger.

During the time the Orokin Empire ruled the solar system, the Void was an unknown dimension parallel to ours which could be used to enable faster-than-light travels. At the time, Void engines were still experimental and dangerous, so solar relays were used to create FTL highways. Sentients were originally advanced drones designed to go to the distant Tau system, 460 light years away, to terraform it and set-up a solar relay. They would take a millennia to reach their destination, so the Orokin made them resistant and capable to adapt to any source of damage. But distrust made the Orokin implement one fatal flaw in their creations: the Void. This weakness to the Void would strand the Sentients in the Tau system should anything go wrong, or so the Orokin thought.

True to their namesake, these drones somehow achieved sentience and became something more. They returned and laid waste to their creators. They could adapt to any weapon used, and turned any new technology the Orokin made against them.

Their salvation was us, the Tenno. Wielding the Warframes, using gun and blade, manipulating the Void, we stopped them, drove them back, and invaded the Tau system through the Solar Relays.

Then came Hunhow and his daughter, Natah. They managed to travel through the Void somehow but lost the ability to have children in the process. Natah was to infiltrate the Orokin ranks, while Hunhow would fake his death and the defeat of the Sentients. The Orokin, believing they had finally won, came together on the Moon to celebrate. The Warframes, taken over by Natah, slayed them, causing the fall of their empire overnight. With the solar relays to the Tau system destroyed, Natah's last remaining task was to bring an end to the Tenno and the Warframes. Yet she couldn't do it. Natah came to see the Tenno as children and claimed them as her own. She accomplished every objective save for the destruction of the Tenno. Instead, she changed her name, became the Lotus, and betrayed her kind.

At least that's what we've managed to piece from the few hints of the past we've come across. Neither I nor any other Tenno can remember anything from that time. What matters right now is that Hunhow has come back, and he's still seeking to destroy us. Worse, he spoke of the others awakening soon. They might already be awake as they have sent reinforcements.

Still, we Tenno defeated the Sentients before, so we will do it again. Sentient units could adapt to any damage they survive, becoming near immune to it. That included both physical and elemental damage, as well as some Void powers, such as Ember's flames and Volt's lightning. Pure Void damage such as my Valkyr claws was effective, as well as weapons modded to inflict multiple damage type, such as bullets enhanced with both explosive and corrosive tips. Otherwise, weapons that did high damage per hit, to slay them before they adapted, would be preferred.

I was once again calm and collected. It was time to gear up for the mission. I walked over to my arsenal and decided to change gear. My jet hammer, Jat Kittag, never failed me, so I kept it, though I did mod it to inflict both corrosive and explosive elemental damage. But I decided to take the twin rifles Grakatas as backup. They had great rate of fire and large ammo magazines, and already had a fire and electric elements. For my main rifle, I'd use something packing a bigger punch. Looking through my arsenal, my eyes stopped on the Sancti Tigris. It was a special weapon, and not just because it fit my parameters. Aside from an augment for my Valkyr, it was the only answer I had gotten when I joined the New Loka faction.

The Tigris was an ivory-colored shotgun, painted over with the New Loka emblem: curving lines that always reminded me of leaves. New Loka had claimed that they could answer the question of what it meant to be human, and I had hoped it would help me figure out whether we Tenno could still consider ourselves as such. I was just a naive Tenno hoping for more out of this universe than endless warfare. The weapon's double barrels were separated around the middle by a metal frame with two sharp spikes pointing backwards, one up and one down, giving the Sancti Tigris the distinct look of an arrow constantly pointed at the enemy. This was my answer. Forget about humanity, and forget about any dreams of finding a path other than that of the soldier. Just go forward and shoot what's at the end of that arrow. A lesson I took to heart.

 _Yes, that weapon will do._

Last of my gear was the equipment. Doubting I could rely on my landing craft for support, I had a few dozen energy restores, devices that once deployed on a battlefield could quickly regenerate a Warframe's Void energy,. I also packed some Specters as well, the small, grenade like object carrying cheap Warframe clones. They were identical to a Warframe in looks, and possessed similar, if slightly weaker stats, but were unable to use any Void based powers, and had no tactical thought of their own. Their main purpose was to be used as instant reinforcements in tough battles, or distractions. My Specters were all Valkyr of course, with different sets of weapons on each.

I headed back to the navigation unit and sat, ordering Ordis to take us to the Oort cloud. A furry presence behind me pulled me from my thoughts. Slobber stood behind me, letting out a short bark as he looked at me with his ever so hopeful eyes.

"Head downstairs Slobber. I'll be there." I told him softly. He barked in acknowledgement, and descended the ramp again. I relaxed myself and willed the dream to end.

 _ ***Brzzzt***_

Again, I found myself sitting in the Somatic Link, the panels slowly retracting. The door opposite from me opened and Slobber sped through it, placing himself right in front of me. I let out a small chuckle and started scratching his ear.

After a couple of minutes, I rose from my chair and tackled him to the ground. Or at least fell on top of him trying. Obviously, he won, and placed himself on top of me, proceeding to lick my face happily. Then he took pity on my efforts and got off of me, dropping on his back to pretend I had overpowered him. I laughed and went to scratch his behind the ears, and he switched position to rest his head on my lap, shaking his tail the whole time. Then, still scratching, I dropped my smile and spoke to him seriously.

"I'm going on a dangerous mission, boy. I want you to stay here." He stopped shaking his tail and looked at me with pleading eyes, begging to join me.

"It's too dangerous a mission for you. I don't want to lead you on what could be a suicide mission." He continued to stare and let out a growl, obviously not accepting of the idea.

"I'm sorry but I can't let you." I sighed. Slobber stood up and pushed me to ground. He let a loud bark and placed a paw on my chest, his eyes staring into me with determination. His message was crystal clear.

 _I'm your partner. Who will protect you without me?_

I let out another sigh and embraced him, scratching his back and head with both of my hands. He let out a happy bark and remained still.

"I can always trust you to watch my back, and front, if I'm in trouble."

"Operator, Hayden requires everyone's attention."

 _Oh, just in time Ordis._ "Put him through." I answered, still clutching Slobber. I heard a slight moment of static as I joined the audio conversation and Hayden's voice spoke.

"My fellow Tenno, I know that today is an unexpected twist of events, so I'll make this quick." He started and breathed in before continuing. "I won't lie to you. There may be no coming back; we all know that the enemy has a weapon capable of killing us directly and a spaceship the size of a moon. This mission may change the lives of not just the Tenno, but of the entire Sol system. The Lotus has watched over us ever since we have awoken and has done everything to lead us to where we are today. Defenders, peacekeepers, and the only ones who can maintain balance within the system. The burden we carry is for our brothers and sisters that will live and continue to fight until one day we may hopefully bring an end to this needless bloodshed that has continued for all our lives. If any of you want to back down, now is the chance. I won't blame you or think any less of you. After all, no matter how much I stress this, some of us could die forever. But no matter what we'll face, this mission WILL be a success."

"Me? Back down from such an important mission? I thought you read my file." Sarah laughed.

"An unknown spacecraft holding what could be high tech gear and weapons that can kill us? I need to study it. And destroy it, of course!" Urza followed.

"I've always been there for my brothers and sisters. If they need me for what could be a potential crisis then I'll gladly give up my life for them if necessary." Aegis replied, his voice still soft. I hoped he could speak louder during the mission; I didn't want to have to stop shooting just to be able to hear him.

"This enemy seems to have mistaken us for common prey. Let's remind him we Tenno are the apex predator." Silva spoke confidently.

"I'll spill their guts out." Bluebeard rasped, the familiar click of a weapon's safety coming off empathizing his point.

"I've got a bone to pick with them." I uttered next, followed by a bark from Slobber.

"For the Tenno." Jean finished.

After a couple moments of silence, Hayden answered, "My thanks will not be enough for your bravery. May the Lotus, our caretaker and Mother, guide us to victory." He finished. The comms went silent and I looked back at Slobber.

"Let's do this boy, after this I will get you some steak to eat." I spoke. Slobber happily barked and helped me get back on the Somatic Link. He left upstairs as my dreamscape opened up to me.

 _ ***Brzzzt***_

 _*Scene Break*_

The fence of the ventilation shaft fell with a thud, and from it we entered the massive space station. Like the exterior, the interior is completely alien looking, with little discernible purpose in anything except the doors. Bluebeard had switched to a crimson red Volt Prime and Silva was now a purple and pink Mirage.

"Transference signal strong, how about the rest?" Hayden, still in his Excalibur Prime, asked, looking back at us. We all nodded in reply.

"This is a raid mission," the Lotus reported. "I need you to look around this spaceship and disable the weapon for good, as well as make sure they don't have any others. Schematics regarding its workings will also help in designing countermeasures and must be secured. With the datamass, find a console and patch me in so that we may extract information from this place."

"Understood Lotus, let's move out. Use comms only when necessary."

We all rushed through the first door and began sweeping the area with Urza, in his Banshee Warframe, holding the datamass. No traces of enemies were found. As we continued searching, we split, first into teams of four then into teams of two as the hallways gave way to more rooms. Jean was by my side as we continued to search from room to room, hoping to find something interesting or something to shoot at. I was getting impatient. We've been running around this facility for minutes in silence without any traces of any sentries, and the Equinox was silent, purely focused on his task with a machine-like efficiency. I would have preferred Sarah or Bluebeard.

The comms crackled as the Lotus spoke.

"Tenno, head over to Urza, she is at the reactor room and she has found something… important." She sounded shocked. To say this was unusual was an understatement as big as this space station.

"I agree with the Lotus… this is quite problematic." Alad V stuttered. Wait, Alad V was shocked too? And the battle hasn't even begun yet.

We arrived to the last door heading over to the room where Urza was furiously tapping on a console. She was extremely tense for some reason, and it was affecting the other Tenno, except Hayden who was as stoic as ever.

"This would be the reactor room." Hayden stated for our benefit. Ahead of me were black walls and to my left and right where endless corridors that travelled as far as the eye could see.

"I see nothing off." Bluebeard spoke first. He was more focused on guarding us, watching the corridors for any enemy.

"That's because I haven't done… this." Urza replied and pressed a button. The black walls sparkled to life with holographic projections. It showed what seemed to be the generator of the station which housed… what in the name of the Lotus?

"Tenno, are you reading this?" The Lotus asked after a couple of seconds. I could not speak at the sight that greeted me.

"Clearly I've... underestimated... whoever made this" Alad V stammered.

"It has to be…" Urza whispered, transfixed at the projection. At the center of this ship was its power source, a neutron star.

"Why we are not yet baked and crushed by gravity? And does one destroy this kind of power source?" Sarah started, breaking the long silence that fell on us. She was pointing at the screen with one of her Spira Prime throwing daggers, as if to attempt to stab the hologram.

"I can't even begin to understand, everything here is just…" Urza tried to continue, only for Hayden to cut her off.

"Enough, we lost valuable time as it is just finding this room. Urza, stay here and hack that console for all it's worth." Hayden's orders were like a jolt, snapping everyone back into focus as the Banshee wielding Tenno focused again on the console, gathering data.

"So… First things first, this star is almost three solar masses. Normally that means it should have collapsed into a black hole, but it is spinning very fast, the centrifugal force strong enough to keep it stable. It also generates a massive electromagnetic field, which seems to be how this ship is powered. As for power consumption..." Urza trailed off for a few seconds. "Strange, there's just one section that's using most of the power generated. I've marked its location on your minimaps. This looks… odd." Urza announced.

"Good. Bluebeard, stay with Urza and watch her back. The rest, follow me." Hayden emphasized his orders with hand signals. We nodded and ran with him through another corridor towards our new objective.

"By the Lotus…" Aegis murmured. He was still digesting the scope of our current mission it seems, though he started lagging behind.

"Does anybody here have a plan of action?" Silva questioned as we continued through the empty corridors. Though she asked the whole group she looked at Hayden, staying to his right.

"I do, but first we'll need to find what's using all this power. The ship's velocity is stable, so it's not the engines." Hayden answered, at the same time signaling to Aegis to catch up.

"A star… So not only is this ship too big to destroy, we cannot just blow up the power source either." I added, my frustration clear as I started accelerating ahead of the group. The lack of response from any defenses was setting me on edge.

"Patience! One step at a time." The Excalibur Prime responded. I slowed down a little, though I stayed in the lead as our vanguard.

We reached another massive empty room. The floor was about thirty meters large, beyond it laid what seemed to be a bottomless pit. Judging from the far walls the entire design was a square, and it was a few hundred meters wide.

"Tenno, I'm detecting a strange presence in your current position." The Lotus spoke.

"What's with this place?" I asked.

"Quiet!" Hayden hissed. A buzzing sound echoed all around us, seemingly coming from everywhere at once. We all tensed up, releasing the safety on our weapons.

"Urza, what's happening over there?" Hayden asked.

"I did nothing, the console is telling me it's coming from your side." Urza answered through the static. Static! Somebody is attempting to jam our communications!

"Tenno come in!" The Lotus ordered.

"I'm afraid your Banshee friend is right! I suggest you Tenno prepare for whatever thing you have awakened." Alad V warned us, in his infuriatingly jovial voice.

"Shut up!" I yelled. He let a short laugh at that, but thankfully went silent afterwards.

A rush of static assaulted our ears, I lowered the volume on my comms and along with my fellow Tenno armed our weapons and stood in a circle facing outwards, trying to find who or what was behind this.

The Lotus and Alad V could handle the jamming attempt, of that I had no doubt. My focus was on the sounds. Finally the enemy would show himself.

"Natah..." A familiar voice uttered.

"Hunhow, what are you doing here?" The Lotus declared, not pleased one bit. I clutched my Jat Kittag with Slobber growling next to me, his teeth bared at the unseen enemy.

"I'm here to finish what you have failed." He pronounced with his calm and cold voice.

"I've got Sentients on me!" Bluebeard announced, as Sentient fighters appeared left and right. Warframe-sized, these Conculysts and Battalysts poured into the room out from the pit.

"Contact!" Sarah announced. We could hear the sounds of whispering voices coming from them as they aimed their weapons at us. I could feel Valkyr's rage taking over, and I was ready to guide it.

"For the Tenno!" Hayden yelled.

The battle started.

 ***Third Person POV***

In an instant the room heated up. Hundreds of lightning balls came barreling on the Tenno's position from the Battalysts as the Conculysts weaved in between the shots, charging to get in melee range. The Warframes themselves wasted no time and sprang into action. Hayden and Charles used their melee oriented abilities to slash and rip into their foes, as Silva summoned copies of herself which all opened fire on the incoming Sentients. Jean went into his day form and began boosting his allies, increasing the effects of their powers while at the same time weakening the resistances of his enemies. Sarah took control of a Sentient Conculyst, using him as a shield. The Warframes used their opponents number against them as they spread out, moving within the enemy horde, causing the Sentients to hit their own far more often than the Tenno warriors.

Aegis focused on evading shots and using Energy Vampire to convert the enemy into Void energy for his fellow Tenno, while keeping an eye on the field, his healing power at the ready. Barely a few seconds in and the Trinity Prime already needed to heal his teammates as Jean's Equinox and Silva's Mirage took grievous wounds. Barely a second later Sarah's Nyx Prime was in need of healing as her puppet was destroyed, and Hayden's Excalibur Prime soon after. Jean switched to his night form and started knocking Sentients near him unconscious using his Rest ability, also strongly weakening any nearby foe's firepower with his Pacify Aura. Hayden channeled his Void powers into his Exalted Blade, coming forth as blinding light that overloaded the surrounding Conculysts' optical sensors. He looked at the battle for a moment and it wasn't going well.

The Sentient troops' ability to adapt had increased greatly with their numbers. The Tenno had to coordinate which attacks and elements they used to have any hope of destroying them. Until now, Sentients were rare to find, and the worst a Tenno would face was a two on one battle. Against the swarm of Sentients they faced now, they had to adapt their tactics quickly, or they would all be dead in less than a minute. At least Bluebeard and Urza were surviving well enough. They had both barricaded themselves at the console using the Volt Prime's Electric Shields while the Banshee used her sonic abilities to keep their mechanical foes at a distance. Between the both of them they also had a decent supply of health and energy restores, so as long as they stayed on the defensive, they could last quite a while.

"Begin incapacitating them before we get overwhelmed." Hayden ordered.

Sarah's Nyx Prime flexed her powers and a green wave of psychic energy encompassed the battlefield, striking her enemies' minds, turning them against one another. Silva's Mirage let out a shimmering, slow spinning ball of light in the air, dozens of laserbeams shooting out from it in all directions. She let it go through the host of the enemy forces, damaging them in the process, before she detonated it, releasing an incredibly bright explosion that overwhelmed the optical sensors of any enemy that was looking in its general direction. Adding their powers to Hayden's own Radial Blind and Jean's Rest ability, the host of the Sentients was being incapacitated. To further counter the enemy's constant reinforcements, the Tenno deployed their own. Captured Corpus shield drones and MOAs, as well as Specters, were deployed by the Warframes in an effort to bolster their forces. The tide of the battle was changing, and the Tenno began to push back against the Sentient onslaught.

A few minutes, and a few hundred Sentient troops later, the situation was worsening again. If anything, there were even more Sentients than before, and reinforcements kept coming. As the Warframes used their abilities, the Sentient were building a resistance to them, being affected less and less. Hayden realized because they were focusing on incapacitating their mechanical foe, they were taking too long to destroy them, allowing the affected drones to build up a resistance and share it with others as they linked with them. Worse, the reinforcements the Tenno deployed were nowhere near as agile or as tough enough, and were being whittled down as the battle wore on. Soon, Aegis was once again hard pressed to heal everyone.

"I need support here!" After a dozen shots from multiple Battalysts managed to reach her, Silva went down before Aegis could heal her. Jean tried to go and revive the Mirage, but he too fell under the constant hits from enemy Conculysts. Charles' Valkyr was able to ignore enemy fire, but Hayden noticed he was forced to also defend his Kubrow, Slobber. The pet was a well-trained and powerful fighter on his own right, but against these foes, there seemed to be little he could do.

The Excalibur Prime thought of a plan and joined up with the Nyx Prime. "Sarah, activate Absorb! Charles, Ripline our fallen Tenno over to her! The rest get within her sphere!"

Sarah floated just above ground, generating a large energy field that absorbed the energy from any attack that came in contact with it, be it ranged or melee. The Equinox and the Mirage used their sleep and blinding orb one last time before joining with the group. The Valkyr charged into the safety of the orb then used Ripline to bring the bodies of the fallen Warframes under the Nyx Prime's protective sphere. Immediately they revived their fallen allies.

"My energy is being drained fast!" Sarah yelled over the gunfire. Immediately, Aegis' Trinity used her Energy Vampire on the numerous enemies around the energy field, trapping them in her power and converting them into Void energy, while Jean deployed one of his energy restores within the group. Hayden was proud of this group; they only needed the smallest of nudges to adapt to any situation, and despite never having worked together before, already displayed better teamwork than most Tenno.

Time to provide that nudge.

"They're beginning to adapt to the abilities we use the more they're affected. Worse, they link with the others and share those resistances. Yet, that link doesn't work while they're incapacitated." The Sentient drones had closed in and were attempting to break through Sarah's Energy field, without success.

"We need to reach balance between disabling them and destroying them, so we'll work a triple rotation for this. First rotation, me and Silva will use our abilities to blind them while the rest of you focus on damage. Second rotation will be Sarah and Charles, and Jean our third. Remember; focus fire on the incapacitated ones first, so they cannot have a chance to adapt."

The team acknowledged the orders and prepared to resume the battle. Sarah deactivated Absorb and all the energy from every attack it stopped was released into a devastating shockwave decimating every enemy in the vicinity. The lull gave every Warframe time to deploy more Specters and MOAs. The Excalibur Prime and Mirage began to blind any oncoming Sentients, while the others opened fire. Sarah used her Nyx's mind control to take hold of Sentient drones one by one and send them to Aegis so his Trinity Prime could easily use Energy Vampire on them, ensuring the team's Void energy levels stayed at maximum.

Then, Nyx took over, using Chaos over and over on the enemy group. Jean's Equinox went in day form again and started boosting everyone's ability powers. He activated Maim, inflicting damage and taking some of the energy from every defeated foe in a large area. He then released that energy in another deadly shockwave, right as Hayden activated his Exalted Blade. The Excalibur Prime proceeded to send waves of pure energy with every slash of his sword, finishing off any Sentient drone that survived the Equinox's ability.

The third rotation came and Jean switched to his night aspect, giving him access to his Rest ability.

"Aegis, let's do it!" Silva said over the sound of battle summoning four illusions that mimicked her actions. Aegis nodded his head and shot with his Tonkor under Silva's feet, the Mirage jumping right as the projectile exploded, reaching up to the ceiling of the room. She took out her mini rocket launcher Kulstar, its modifications allowed it to fire three mini rockets per trigger, each releasing multiple bomblets upon detonation. As she opened fire, her illusions did the same, their phantom projectiles tangible and deadly thanks to her power, and began a real downpour of missiles down the enemy lines. The explosions from the missiles combined with the following bomblets blanketing the entire group of incapacitated foes. While every other Warframe retreated upon her action, Charles' Valkyr went right in the thick of it, invulnerable to any damage, and ripped at her foes even as the rockets were exploding around them, finishing them. Upon striking one particular Conculyst, the Valkyr succeeded in pulling its arms out before ripping out its head.

"Slobber, disarm them!" The Kubrow faithfully obeyed, happy he was finally participating at his partner's side.

The Tenno's tactics and skills were prevailing once again, and this time the throng of reinforcements the Sentients were sending did little but add to the corpses littering the battlefield. Still, the Warframes were not here for an extermination, they had to find and destroy the Sentient weapon before disabling their space station.

Hunhow observed the battle with some satisfaction. Sure, his army of drones was failing, but they were mere fodder against an elite group of Tenno. All in all, they had performed above expectations. Even better, it meant he would be able to bring an end to them personally, just like the previous group.

"So the little Orokin puppets are still standing. How pitiful! To think you are having so much trouble against simple drones. Look at them Natah; they will not stand against us again. Join us again my daughter, and rise with us when we will claim this world".

"The Sentients are no more, Hunhow. Natah is no more. I am the Lotus now, and these are my legacy, my children, not the Orokin's. Your station and your weapon will be destroyed alongside you. Oblivion will be your judgement for having dared to harm my children." The Lotus spat Hunhow and the Orokin's names like they were poisonous. The anger behind her words was shared by every Tenno at the death of their dead brothers, and her conviction steeled their resolve to destroy Hunhow.

"You are so amusing Natah. I want to see your face when I wipe out these pests from the system. But first, I should thank you. Willing or not, you will have played you part in our victory." The whine of engines filled the room.

"What's that?" Charles was the first to spot it. A Sentient spaceship rose from the shadows of the pit, encompassing nearly the whole room, it's insectoid like shape coming into view with several weapons mounted on it and a large cannon in the center of its chest.

"Tenno watch out, the readings indicate this is the weapon that can kill the operators." The Lotus warned.

"Everyone! Our objective is now the destruction of that monstrosity. Show it what we're made of!" Hayden rallied his squad, raising his Exalted Blade above his head.

The real battle had only just begun.


	3. Prologue part three: The Cost of Victory

_-"... spelling, checked... Main Character, checked... co-author, checked… Readers… I'll just go ahead and check that one… Main author… Main author?... Necromarc?"_

 _*Sounds of crickets chirping*_

 _"Not checked I guess?" *Srey shrugs* "You know what? I'll just cross this one out. Just one last point to go over… Thanking the editor. That one's easy. Green Moryiama, you've done an awesome job at it! And for the final point:...PONIES?! Who added that in the checklist?"_

 _*Necromarc suddenly appears and steals the checklist*_

 _-"It just felt necessary."_

 _-"First, GIVE ME THAT BACK! Second, where did you come from? And third, we said there'd be ponies… In two more chapters. Or next chapter, if the readers don't mind another chapter over 8K words long..."_

 _-"You forgot to search under the bed! And don't worry, I wasn't a-Void-ing you! I was just checking everything was is Ordis! "_

 _-"... If anyone is looking for me, I'll be in the corner, performing a facepalm with a Jat Kittag..."_

 _-"Great! It's my turn to say it… DISCLAIMERS!"_

 _Disclaimer: both Warframe and MLP FIM are owned by DE and Hasbro respectively._

 _BAM!_

 _..._

 _"So he really did hit himself with a Jat Kittag… I'm sure he'll be fine in time for the next chapter!"_

* * *

The massive Sentient spaceship opened up with a volley of missiles and laser fire, igniting the entire room. It didn't seem to care about the Sentient drones, destroying them as it attempted to lock on to the Warframes. The latter all dodged and weaved through the shots, then returned fire with their own weapons, trying to take out the Sentient's shields, without any luck.

"We're getting low on energy restores here! We won't hold much longer at this rate" Urza reported.

"Charles go help our brothers. Urza, check the Schematics. How thin is the ceiling to space?" Hayden asked over the sound of gunfire. Charles nodded and leapt through the battlefield, dodging shots and quickly grabbed Slobber. He ran past each ally Warframe in the room, picking up more energy restores from them, then shot a Ripline above the door, propelling himself through the door and out of sight.

"Are you crazy? You want to collapse the ceiling on us?" Silva asked, narrowly dodging a shot aimed for her heart.

"We can force this into a space battle and defeat it using our Archwings."

"What about the space station's weapon system? They will shoot down the landing crafts the second they decloak." The Banshee retorted.

"The Lotus is in their systems, and Alad V is supporting us. They will disable the weapon systems."

"So you do need my help in the end. The things I do for you Tenno..." Alad V's tone betrayed his glee at getting a chance to ruin someone's plans. "I've got an even better idea. Let's see how Hunhow's new toy handles against his own defense systems!"

"Sarah, redirect weapon fire to the ceiling!" The Nyx Prime nodded and darted in front of Aegis, using her teammate's weapon to propel herself to the ceiling. When she reached the zenith of her jump, she activated Absorb. The other Warframes ran up the walls while shooting at the ceiling with their weapons, eventually catching up to Sarah, letting the energy shield soak up The Sentient Spaceship's fire.

The Sentient's chest began to light up as the weapon started to build up energy, aiming for the nearest Warframe. Every Tenno knew that whoever was caught within its blast would instantly die without warning. The Nyx released her ability, causing a large crack to form on the ceiling, and every Warframe jumped to the walls, jumping and running sideways in random patterns, making it as hard as possible for the giant Sentient to take proper aim. It fired a massive white beam, vaporizing a large hole in the wall upon contact, however the five elite Tenno proved too elusive for the lumbering machine.

While that battle continued, Charles reached the reactor room where a wave of Conculysts and Battalysts were laying siege to two Warframes. The Valkyr let out a war cry and dived into enemy lines with his signature hammer, discharging his shields into a powerful shockwave, paralyzing the Sentient troops. Within seconds he had carved a path from the door to his allies with Slobber collecting ammo and energy orbs along the way. Finally, Charles reached Bluebeard and Urza, as well as multiple MOAs and specters the two had deployed, standing by the reactor console as multiple electric shields offered them cover from the surrounding Sentients drones. The Valkyr took out the energy restores he had gathered and began sharing them with the Volt Prime and the Banshee.

"The effectiveness of our disables on them have been vastly reduced by now." Warned Urza while the Valkyr was switching to her Jat Kittag.

"Then let's focus on reducing their numbers. I'll take point." Charles used his Valkyr's Warcry to increase his strength as the Volt Prime overcharged him with his electric powers, giving him both a speed and a damage boost. The Valkyr blitzed through with lightning speed, hammering the Sentients who could not even attempt to aim for the supersonic Frame. The Jat Kittag was making sonic booms as it moved around, and the drones found they could not adapt their bodies to being hit multiple times per second by a heavy supersonic hammer.

"Defense System override complete! Hayden go for it!" Urza reported, bringing her Vectis Prime onto a fallen Conculyst, leaving a hole through its head.

In the meantime, the five Tenno were slowly losing to the Sentient spaceship. Aegis had to release several Blessing one after another to keep his brothers on their feet along with the Equinox's Mend. Meanwhile, the Sentient's shields were still full. Many holes of variable size dotted the ceiling above them, the air escaping through the gaps into the emptiness of space.

Using her Absorb near the ceiling, Sarah released the kinetic energy of another volley of missiles it absorbed, the damage finally compromising the integrity of the only obstacle between the room and outer space.

Hayden inspected the warzone as the ceiling started crumbling. He leapt onto one of the falling chunks and began to hop between them, running upwards towards the gaping hole. The others followed suit, occasionally breaking down falling parts into smaller chunks to hurl them at the Sentient. Hayden reached the exit and leapt into outer space, floating above the debris as the others came up. Several landing crafts, Lisets and Scimitars, decloaked near the Warframes and jettisoned their cargo, the Archwings. They were mechanical wings designed to attach to a Warframe and provide them space warfare capabilities, although they could also be used for air or underwater settings. The Archwings activated and flew to their owners, the metal harness attaching them to the Warframes' back. Each Tenno breathed a sigh of relief as the Archwings supplied their starved lungs with oxygen. Swiftly as they appeared, the Lisets turned back and cloaked again, while the Tenno picked their new weapons from their wings, melee weapons and rifles as big as their Frames, well suited to the weightlessness of outer space.

The Warframes kicked in their afterburners and flew away from the station, luring their dangerous prey. The Sentient spaceship rammed through the dome, destroying what was left of the ceiling, and gave chase to the five Warframes. Hayden looked back to find the Sentient spaceship, slowly accelerating away from the station and into the Oort cloud and its countless asteroids.

"Now!" He roared over the comms. The space station's weapon platforms aimed and fired at the massive Sentient, wave after wave of projectiles, from kinetic weapons to missiles and energy beams, all slammed onto its shields. To the Tenno's dismay, the Sentient's shields only slightly weakened from the massive barrage it took, not even slowing it down as it chased the five Tenno.

"Dammit! How much damage can it soak?" Silva rasped.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it seems this station can produce more copies of that spaceship. We're lucky the next ones won't be ready for a few hours. It seems the one you're fighting is the prototype." Interrupted Urza. The five Frames gasped, but kept flying further into the cloud in an erratic path, preventing the Sentient behemoth from getting a lock on them.

Sentient Conculysts and Battalysts poured out from the station, attacking the traitorous defense systems and engaging the Warframes, attempting to distract them for Hunhow to catch and deal the finishing blow.

"I'm impressed. These sentient can be frightfully efficient when they're determined to end someone." Alad V's voice was heard in their comms. "Hey, look on the bright side, the data indicates this is the only station they succeeded in making. Something to do with the dangers of building around neutron stars…" He continued, amused.

The Sentient drones were reaching the Warframes, but the Archwings gave the Tenno too big of an advantage. They were faster, far more agile, and their space oriented weaponry was on a caliber of what would be expected on a cruiser or a destroyer. Still, it did give an additional hazard as the Warframes had to avoid the huge Sentient ship and its deadly weaponry.

Hayden was quickly running out of options. To think even just one of these ships, only a few hundred meters long, could match the threat posed by even the strongest warships in the system, the Grineer Fomorians, multi-kilometer behemoths. Worse, there were hundreds more inside the space station, and it would keep manufacturing more. They had to be stopped before they could reach the Sol system.

"Urza, collapse the star!" Hayden ordered. Every Tenno in his squad turned to stare at the leader as well as earning a gasp from Alad V.

"What? Are you out of your little metal mind? Collapsing a neutron star will create a black hole, not some shiny explosions you Tenno are so fond of!" Alad V said in an uproar.

"Urza how long will it take to collapse it?" Hayden ordered, ignoring Alad V's warning. After several seconds with no reply he insisted. "How long!"

"It'll take about six minutes for the reaction to reach the point of no return. After that however, I have no idea how long it shall take to suck us in it" She finally answered.

"Our firepower isn't enough to destroy all these new weapons, nor can we neutralize this behemoth of a space station." He simply stated.

"And then what? The momentum of the station will carry its cargo into our system. The neutron star alone would have cataclysmic consequences, but a black hole? If I needed stupid ideas, I'd have gone to those degenerate Grineers" Alad V retorted.

"That's why I'll need a volunteer, someone who'll go to the navigation room and drive away the space station somewhere in the emptiness of space." Hayden continued. "However, the Tenno who does this will most likely die. They cannot leave the navigation room in risk of Hunhow assuming direct control of the station and turning it back towards our system."

Everyone remained silent, the four Warframes staring at their leader as they contemplated his idea. Our Orbiters, holding our bodies, couldn't be too far from the Warframe. It meant one of us would die, for good.

"I will." Jean said breaking the silence, he drifted in front of his leader and gave his hand which the Excalibur Prime shook. The both of them stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Finally the Equinox left and flew towards the navigation room.

"Lotus?" Hayden asked, expecting to be criticized for his suicidal choices. After several seconds the Lotus' voice came through, broken but determined.

"Do as you must." She ordered, breaking the silence that fell on the Warframes. Urza went over to the console and tapped several keys. The screen revealed a six-minute countdown warning that the star was beginning to collapse.

"It's done. Though I will need to keep monitoring it to prevent Hunhow from stopping the process until it reaches the point of no return." She informed.

"No… NO! What are you doing? You're dooming yourselves in the process!" Hunhow roared over the comms. The spaceship began to change course to head for the reactor room where a sea of Conculysts were attempting to break through Charles, Bluebeard, and Urza.

"Come my brothers, we Tenno never fail our mission" Aegis shouted, intercepting with his teammates the massive Sentient in an attempt to slow it down. The space stations weapons roared to life as another barrage of plasma fired in an attempt to slow down Hunhow to his destination. Hayden along with Sarah in their Archwings, the Odonata Prime, released a volley of energized homing missiles in front of the Sentient, Aegis with his Elytron unleashed storms of punishing explosions into the retreating Sentient spaceship.

Hunhow fired volleys of rockets in all directions, aiming wildly and destroying whatever was in its way. Hayden dropped flares, confusing the rockets that were chasing him, only to find himself face to face with countless more. He whipped out his heavy machine gun, the Phaedra, and intercepted the nearest incoming fire while dodging and weaving through others. Aegis dashed from rubble to rubble, using them as shields to soak incoming damage and fired off explosive shells with his Grattler quad-barrel autocannon at asteroids, throwing them of course to impact the Sentient. Silva flew and teleported around the spaceship in his Itzal unleashing dozens of Void powered drones to fire and make suicide runs at the spaceship. Bit by bit, the ship's shields were dropping, having finally crossed the halfway mark.

For the duration of the battle in space, the three grounded Warframes continued to halt off the incoming waves of Conculysts. They had to make sure their energy reserves would last, so every Tenno, including Charles, were staying behind the Volt Prime's electric shields and shooting at the incoming swarm, using their powers to repel them when they came too close. Occasionally, Charles' Valkyr would come out, using his Hysteria ability to become invulnerable and tear down at the Sentients that had become resistant to their Void powers, then retreating to safety. Only a few more minutes left, but their supplies were barely going to last until the end of the countdown.

Jean found a shaft near the entry point of the control room and blasted his way inside it, performing curves and turning sharp corners through the corridors until finally reaching his destination. He flew in, finally reaching the navigation room. With a loud blow he landed on the floor, creating a small crater. So far no one was in this section however it would not last for long. He placed the room in lockdown and jammed the doors. He then went to the navigation console and began turning the ship around, humming the beginning of an old Tenno tune.

Back in space, the four Warframes desperately tried every tactic to stall the Sentient's movement, using themselves as decoys and throwing asteroids which disintegrated upon impact with its shields. Silva teleported behind another asteroid and prepared to go for another round of dodgeball. However, before she could attempt anything the asteroid shattered as a white beam missed her by only a meter. She lost her balance and attempted to teleport away, but not before several projectiles impacted the Mirage, destroying one of her wings. She tumbled out of control and crashed onto another asteroid.

"Silva!" Aegis shouted, breaking off to rush to her location. Another beam fired off , encompassing the Mirage and everything around her. As the beam died out, nothing was left of said Warframe or the asteroid that she fell on.

"Silva! Not you! NO!" Aegis froze, shouting at the emptiness that was his closest ally. The spaceship was not going to give him time to mourn. It was already preparing for another shot. The Lotus attempted to rouse him, but it was clear the Tenno would not recover in time.

"Sarah, Hayden, intercept the beam. Use your Focus power." Ordered the Lotus.

"On it. Sarah, teleport to my location." Hayden charged at Hunhow's ship, placing himself between its deadly laser and his comrade, then prepared to unleash the most devastating attack in a Tenno's arsenal. Tenno had access to different focus schools, each granting different enhancements on the battlefield. Each also granted one unique Void power. A powerful attack whose only drawback was its lengthy charging time.

"Your powers may not be sufficient for this endeavor. I am surging your Warframe's power systems." The Lotus announced. The link between the two Tenno and their Warframes strengthened, Hayden and Sarah feeling as if the world had become more real around them for an instant.

Two avatars of pure Void energy appeared in front of each Frame, taking the forms of Sarah and Hayden's true bodies. Each channeled their power into a beam of pure, raw Void energy, colliding with the beam from the Sentient's weapon. Thanks to power up from the Lotus, they managed to outlast the Sentient and impact his shields, the Void energy dropping them to less than a tenth of their strength. The link to their Warframes weakened again as the Lotus ended their power surge.

"Sarah, grab Aegis and retreat. We have less than a minute until the station's fate is sealed." Hayden deployed more flares and used his weapon to block enemy fire as he covered for his allies.

"Thirty seconds!" Urza reported. She aimed and tried to fire another round only to realize that she was completely dry. Looking back she saw the once bright star collapsed on itself.

"We have to leave. Now!" Bluebeard shouted.

"Just a few more seconds." She responded. At once the room started to shake and the walls keeping the neutron star slowly bent towards the now forming black hole.

"Fine, I'm making our way out" Charles powered and unleashed his own Focus, from the Zenurik training. Waves of pure Void energy sped across the room, suspending and completely immobilizing every Sentient drone. He picked up Slobber, as Bluebeard used his Speed ability on the group, and the team ran towards the nearest exit.

"Nearest point of extraction is a couple of minutes from here." Urza said, marking said objective on their minimaps. They reached one of the rooms and veered right, continuing to run with the Sentients hot on their trail.

"Be careful. Enemy ship is powering up main weapon again, aimed at the station." Hayden warned the Tenno inside as he was struggling to finish off what little remained of the spaceship's shields to take it out of commission before it could harm more of his teammates.

"Quickly, let's get out o-," Bluebeard started only to receive a blinding light, forcing the other two Tenno to cover their eyes. Once the flash was gone they noticed that a massive hole was made from the ceiling to where Bluebeard stood all the way down, the air flowing through those holes into space.

"This is Urza… Bluebeard is dead." Urza uttered, even as Charles grew ever more furious. Several more Conculysts appeared between the two remaining Warframes and their exit. They couldn't afford to stop for even a second or they would share Bluebeard's fate, and Urza feared Charles would doom them by engaging their new foes. However, the Valkyr unleashed a Void powered roar, shattering its own shields in the process and paralyzing the Sentient drones. Urza charged ahead, using his own shockwaves to repel and knock aside any foe they encountered on their way.

Hayden was now buzzing around the Sentient ship, hitting it with his Arch-melee weapon, the Prisma Veritux, infused with his rapidly decreasing Void energy. Finally, the giant spaceship's shield collapsed, the remaining defense systems pounding at its hull. He had to ensure the others could safely extract from their mission.

By now they could simply cut the Transference. It would kill their persona but the Operator would be safe even from the Sentient weapon. However there was Slobber to take into account. Kubrows did not have their real body away from the battlefield after all, and Charles' companion had proven his worth in the field of battle.

Hayden dived straight for the central weapon, channeling every last ounce of Void energy he had left in his weapon. The sword struck and penetrated through the beam cannon, causing cracks to expand from the point of impact. He flew back and fired into the weak point with his Phaedra, finally destroying the dreaded weapon. He could now fly into the space station and ensure the others made it out. The giant ship attempted to shoot the Tenno down with its other weapons, but the Warframe weaved through its weapon's fire and dropped flares to confuse the missiles. Without that beam, it was just another giant, slow spaceship.

"Sentient weapon is destroyed. I'm coming to assist your extraction:" Hayden also ordered his ship Cephalon to begin pulling his own orbiter away from the battle scene. Transference would weaken as a result, but he already accepted that it was highly unlikely his Warframe and gear would make it out, not if he wanted to save the Kubrow as well.

"Copy that"

Charles had little time for verbose replies as he and Urza were racing desperately, only fighting enough to knock their opponents away, as the black hole's gravity caught up to them. Its effects meant they were no longer running through corridors but jumping and climbing their way up. The Valkyr was using its Ripline to go faster, but still had some difficulty as it had to keep hold of Slobber at the same time, and fight off the Sentient drones trying to slow them down. They knew, at the rate they were going, they would not make it. Urza stopped and used his own Focus, his Void self travelling alongside Charles, knocking away any Sentients of his path. It also meant his Warframe had stopped moving throughout the use of his Focus, and soon it fell backwards, accelerating ever faster towards its demise.

In his own corner of the Space Station, Jean had activated the navigation systems, the ship having lost its forward momentum and began flying back towards the void of space. He had used his focus, the Void avatar of his Operator phasing through the entrance, his power turning the Sentients attempting to break through against each other. The Tenno was terrified of what awaited him, but he dared not cut the Transference until he was sure there was no way for Hunhow to turn the station around. He would not let his teammates' death be in vain.

 ***First Person POV***

We knew the dangers when we accepted this mission. The possibility of losing our Warframes and gear always loomed on us. Now there was death to worry about. And it claimed two of the best Tenno I had the honor of meeting.

I wanted nothing more than to stop running and tear into every single last one of those Sentients. But my allies have helped me escape, sacrificed their Warframes to give me a chance to extract Slobber. Hayden was coming in his Archwing. They were our only hope to extract Slobber in time. Then it would be my turn to make a stand and sacrifice my Valkyr to assist his retreat. I was not sad though. I knew Slobber would make it out, and my final moments as Valkyr would be spent fighting overwhelming odds as broken bodies would pile around me. I headed down through few more corridors only to come across a host of Conculysts.

"Out of my way, I don't have time with you!" I roared, using my Hysteria and punched through their numbers. However, my energy claws vanished after only a few seconds and I realized that my energy was now completely gone. Immediately I got assaulted from all around as the Sentients left me no time to rest, I dropped my shields into a last paralyzing blast then left the room.

The minimap indicated Hayden would be arriving at the next interception. Soon, very soon, Slobber will be extracted and I could give in to my rage for a few brief moments. Upon arriving I noticed the interception is teeming with foes as well.

Blades of pure Void energy burst through the group of foes as Hayden flew through them, his Exalted Blade vanishing as soon as he was through. A look at his status showed he was faring no better than me. No time was wasted on greetings, we both knew what had to be done. I threw Slobber at him, the Kubrow emitting a surprised yelp. It intensified into full blown howls when he realized what I was about to do. Such a clever boy. But I didn't have time for this. I drew my hammer in my right hand, a Grakata in my left. Channeling the last of my energy into a final Warcry, I jumped into the interception, carving a path through which Hayden could escape.

Finally I had knocked aside enough foes to make a small opening towards the right side, which the Excalibur Prime wasted no time in exploiting. This was it. Hayden, shields and energy down, Warframe heavily damaged, would escape with only seconds to spare. A fitting end to an epic tale of how we Tenno saved once again the Sol System.

And then reality struck. A lucky hit struck one of Hayden's wings, and the Excalibur spiraled out of control and into a pillar. Every Sentient homed in on the staggering Warframe and the Kubrow, giving them no chance to recover. Without his wings, there would be no escaping the station for neither Hayden's Excalibur nor Slobber.

I was momentarily stunned as I looked at my Kubrow. I had to save him. I had to find a way. But I knew deep down, it was over; Slobber, my main companion and best friend, who braved so many dangers and overcame the odds so many times, was going to die. The only thing left to do was to cut the Transference, to leave him there with my Warframe. Judging from the Excalibur Prime lying on the ground, Hayden had left.

I jumped towards Slobber, picked him up, dropping my rifle, then leapt further ahead.

"Tenno, you must cut the Transference! Soon it will be too late" The Lotus had opened a private channel, urging me to leave. Yet despite the anguish in her voice, I would have to disobey her now.

"You know I cannot. Ordis! The Liset better be ready at the extraction point" The increasing gravity was making my jumps more and more difficult. I had to drop my Jat Kittag and my remaining weapons to keep going. They would be useless anyways, the gravity had become too strong for the Sentient drones to handle.

"Operator, the Liset is waiting, but I must warn-"

"Just keep it there." I had no time to waste on idle chatter. My vertical speed was at this point barely a fast walk.

"Please Charles! I know how important Slobber is to you, but this is hopeless. I have already lost two children to this, I cannot lose a third." Truly, I was a terrible child to make Mother cry. But I had no choice.

"I'm sorry, Mother."

By now I could see the extraction point, the Liset waiting for me. Its engines were desperately fighting off the increasing forces of gravity, and even I had trouble climbing my way to it. Slobber whimpered.

"It's okay Slobber, we're almost out." I tried to reassure him, but he wouldn't stop, and began licking me as well. "Now behave boy! Or there will be no meat for you after this mission!"

Suddenly a screeching noise echoed as my claw raked across the wall. No! I was too close to fail now. The Liset was there, barely a few meters away. But gravity took this moment to win its battle against my landing craft, bringing it down on us. I attempted to jum-

"Operator I'm pulling you out of here." Ordis disembodied voice came through.

 _ ***Brzzzt***_

 _ ***Brzzzt***_

I awakened violently to find myself within the Orbiter, sitting inside the Somatic Link.

"No! Slobber!" I yelled, my voice starting to break and tears threatening to leave my eyes.

"The black hole is tearing through the Oort cloud. Its gravity is affecting the Orbiter. We have to get **-run for our lives!-**." He responded, attempting to initiate a Void jump. I continued to yell at Ordis only to feel the ship being tugged backwards and rattle as several asteroids began to collide with it.

"Shields are failing, hull integration failing, systems failing - **what isn't failing!** " Ordis reported.

"Ordis, divert all power into shields and thrusters. Activate the Void drive." The Lotus' voice resonated through the comms in what was her usual tone. It carried the calm and confidence of someone in charge, of someone I could trust. Someone whose voice I needed to hear right now.

"But what about navigation, with the space-time warp from the black hole pulling us, we can end up - **we'll be lost in space!** -"

"A preferable alternative to being crushed inside a black hole." Insisted the Lotus. Her voice softened. "Charles, come see me." I didn't hesitate. The ship continued to rattle as I retreated within my mind. The sound of crashing fading away and my vision becoming dark.

I re-opened my eyes to find myself within my dreamscape. A place where I usually meditate when I'm not doing anything but relaxing. However this wasn't one of those days.

"Lotus?" I asked, my voice breaking into the higher octaves as fear, sadness and hope mixed within me. As I was about to call her again I felt a presence and turned around to find the Lotus in her human form watching me.

"My child..." She whispered, her voice filled with sadness and regret. She walked up to me and hugged me.

I hugged back with all my strength. In this place, this sanctuary, there was nobody else. I was within my own dream, in the arms of the Lotus. The safest place in the universe. I finally allowed myself to break apart.

For a moment, I wasn't a Tenno anymore. Tenno don't cry. They showed no weakness for they had none. They did not fear death, for they interacted with it daily. They were the rulers on the battlefield, indifferent to its horrors.

My body started trembling. Soon I felt like my entire dreamscape was in the clutches of a violent earthquake, and I hugged even tighter to my mother, the only pillar of stability. A deafening wail was assaulting my ears, my own voice.

I had the honor of meeting living legends. We were selected to save the entire system from a deadly foe. We had triumphed again. Now should have been the time to return and celebrate all together.

But now we can't be all together. Our brothers and sisters will never be able to celebrate with us again.

Silva. Bluebeard. Jean.

They were part of the elite. They had the best gear, the greatest skills. They had the Tenno's near immortality.

It just wasn't enough. They were gone forever.

Even Slobber.

Who was going to greet me when I woke up anymore? With whom was I going to try hopelessly to get my real body into shape? I was supposed to go and get him meat after all this. I promised him we would go after we won this mission.

The mission was over.

We had triumphed... Once again...

I let it all out. My dreamscape, ever the reflection of my emotions, was engulfed in a storm, heavy rain falling around me as the powerful winds were threatening to blow me away. Still, the Lotus stood there, unflinching, holding me tight as if to shield me from the fury of my own emotions.

I don't know how long I stayed there. Eventually, the storm began to weaken and die down. I felt completely drained. The sorrow within me had burned out, leaving me emotionally exhausted. I simply stayed there, in Mother's embrace, unable and unwilling to do anything else.

"Charles, I'm afraid we have little time left." She sounded so sad. What did she mean by little time? She always made time when it was needed before. "I know how hard it is, but you must do one more mission for me."

A mission from the Lotus.

I didn't want to do anything at the moment. But it was Mother. Perhaps this was what I needed. As long as she guided me, it would be fine.

With great effort, I forced back my emotional turmoil, turning to the calm and confidence a Tenno possessed. No matter what happened, I knew Mother was always there, watching over me.

"What is it?" I asked, looking at where her eyes would be. She smiled and caressed my hair.

"Come back home, my child. Find your way back." She ordered. "You may proceed any way you deem, so long as you succeed."

What? Where was I going? I didn't want to go anywhere without the Lotus. Why would I- Oh no! The Void jump!

 _ ***Brzzzt***_

I could feel my link to the Lotus waver. My dreamscape was becoming unstable and threatened to collapse.

I willed it to remain. My inner world began to break apart, but I forced every bit of willpower I had left into the dreamscape, into the link to my mother. Tenno's powers could transcend dimensions, surely it would overcome a little distance.

It had to.

 _ ***Brzzzt***_

Suddenly, my dreamscape collapsed. When I opened my eyes I found myself in the Somatic Link, desperately alone in the Orbiter. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't sense the link anymore.

"Mother?" I whimpered, tears blurring my sight. The Orbiter was shaking violently, but I couldn't care less. I had to contact my mother. Why wasn't she answering me?

"MOTHER!" I let out with every fiber of my being.

The Void drive had activated, but something was wrong. Inertial dampeners weren't working properly and the force of acceleration was trying to squash me into my seat. My body began to feel numb as darks spots appeared before my eyes. Soon darkness overtook me and I left the waking world.


	4. Prologue final - Shattering the Dream

_A dark figure wearing a robe is looking at a mangled corpse on the ground. A book in its hands, runic arrays traced all around the corpse, he talked to himself as he prepared what was no doubt a spell most foul._

 _-"Stupid Srey. Facepalming with a Jat Kittag AND activating the weapon's jet propeller?"_

 _The figure, now identified as Necromarc, kept chanting as he finished the ritual_

 _-"I'm NOT chanting! Good thing I got this copy of necronomicon as a birthday gift though. Anyways, since co-author Srey is… not sound of mind, or body, I'll have to do these author notes myself"_

 _Necromarc stopped his dark, demonic even, incan-_

" _I told you I'm NOT chanting! You'd think dead Co-Authors would be more quiet… and more sympathetic to those who are trying to revive them…"_

…

 _And now the author will cease his endless prattling and actually begin th-_

 _-"Ok! Ok! What a troll… So, as usual, a big thank you to Green Moryiama for his editing work, and as usual, please rate and review! Seriously, reviews are even better than drugs… NOT that I'd know how drugs make you feel… But seriously, a special thanks to the ones who reviewed this!_

 _Before I finish this author's notes, there are two pieces of lore for those who don't know these tidbits of Warframe:_

 _-Nartas are essentially Katas that Warframes can perform used as emotes in the game_

 _-Regalias are a sort of tattoo, but designed for Warframes._

 _Now, let's move on to the last part before I finish rev-... Hey! Why is it getting darker here?!"_

 _The screen fades to black. Then light spread as one word shines bright, cutting the darkness..._

 _DISCLAIMERS!_

 _Disclaimer: both Warframe and MLP FIM are owned by DE and Hasbro respectively._

* * *

 ***First Person POV***

I awoke with a sudden jolt. I was inside my real body, sitting in the Somatic Link. Darkness and silence greeted me from my slumber. Ordis was completely silent. In fact the comforting hum of machinery was also missing. I better get Slobber before he freaks out as wel-

Then I remembered. Slobber would not freak out, not now, nor ever. He was no more. Four companions died last mission. And I was… I didn't even know where the Void jump took me.

 _Come back home, my child. Find your way back._

Nine simple words. A shard of hope. A mantra to be repeated over and over again. They reminded me that I could not lie here and lament. The Lotus gave me a mission, and I must accomplish it.

 _Find your way back._

Yes. The Lotus was waiting. She would heal me. She would make the painful feelings go away. She always did. Reciting my mission over and over, I cleared my mind of every other thought. Soon I was once again calm and focused.

My first objective was to know the status of my Orbiter. I needed the Void drive and the navigation map to be in working order at the very least or I wouldn't make it far.

That and I would not lose Ordis as well.

I channeled the Void power within me into the Somatic Link, powering up its HUD. From it I could do a quick scan of the main systems and reactivate Ordis. The scan had very little news for me, none of them good. Everything was shut down, and that included life support! Many ship systems were not responding, most probably damaged or destroyed. Worse, the ship's power core was gone, together with the landing craft bay and almost the entire right side of the ship. The damage had almost reached the Operator room. A few more meters and I would have never woken up… Dead just like Slob-

 **No!** I had to stay focused. I needed to reactivate Ordis. I drew out as much Void energy as I could safely channel and sent it through the Somatic Link into the rest of the ship, powering it up. I could only wait and hope Ordis would activate. After a few minutes of nothing happening, I began to fear my attempt was failing, or worse, that Ordis got damaged and wouldn't function, but a disembodied voice suddenly resounded through the dark room.

"Operator? Is that you?"

I gasped. It was so sudden, I couldn't react. Tears began forming around my eyes, threatening to overflow.

"Yes Ordis, it's me." I said, wiping my eyes. Even in this dire situation, his voice managed to lift my spirits up. I still had one close ally with me.

"Operator! Oh how glad I am to hear your voice. Ordis was not sure the transfer had succeeded! Wait! Life-support is out! Hold on Operator, I shall reactivate it right away!"

Soon the mechanical entrails of the Orbiter stirred and a small breeze flew in my room as the life-support recycled the air. I had not even realized breathing had become more difficult until I felt the fresh air enter my lungs. Still I had no time to celebrate.

"I'm glad to hear you too Ordis. But what transfer are you talking about? And why did the life support turn off? "

"The entire starboard has been ripped away Operator, and my core was located inside. When Ordis realized what was happening I - **ran away** \- overrode every system in the ship and transferred myself into them. However they are not designed for my programs so Ordis is now operating at minimal capacity. My diagnostics indicate the transfer was a success!"

Ordis was damaged? Worse, he almost **died**. It would have all been my fault…

What was I doing? _Focus Charles!_ First figure out the state of the ship then plan how to get back.

"Regarding the life support, it was a built in weakness by the Orokin. It will shut down if the Cephalon managing the Orbiter went offline." Continued Ordis.

Of course… The Orokin were paranoid and designed weaknesses in everything… alive they created. The weakness to the Void in the Sentients, the gene degeneration in the Grineer, and a weakness in our own Orbiters. It made feel glad we Tenno exterminated them… I was getting distracted again.

"I'm truly glad you made it, Ordis. But what does it mean for the systems you took over?"

"Ordis has compressed as much data as I could, though the sentinels' AI are lost as well as eighty percent of the codex entries. Any blueprint not useful to repairing or maintaining the Orbiter was compressed and won't be accessible. Ordis is operating on less than 1% of normal processing limit, so any hacking or system takeover should be avoided."

"Then we'll make do, but for now we need to hurry. The power core isn't functioning so I've been using my own energy to keep the Orbiter active. We need to get back home quickly and repair it."

"Of course Operator. Scanning Power levels. Power core destroyed. Power storage unit damaged. Main power conduit destroyed. Rerouting through auxiliary conduits. Power rerouting successful. You may stop powering the ship for now."

Upon hearing his words I stopped channeling my Void energy, breathing a sigh of relief. I would help again if it was required, but for now I could rest and recharge.

"Standby while I scan for nearby star systems. Only ten percent of the galactic map is available. - **How are we ever going to** \- We may still find our way back, assuming we're - **not lost in space!** \- still within a few parsecs of the Sol System."

"Please do, Ordis."

After half a minute Ordis had finished his scan.

"Star systems surrounding current position are forming a very dense pattern. Most likely match to current location is the galactic center of the Milky Way. - **Holy Lotus we must have been thrown from the black hole like a slingshot!** \- Unable to determine direction of Sol System. Void drive functional, but power generation insufficient. Alternative source of power required in order to perform the return jump. Scanning surroundings for any asteroids or exoplanets that may be mined for resources."

"Wait, what about cannibalizing non-essential systems or even my own gear for resources and energy? I can also keep supplying some power myself if necessary."

"The hull is already damaged with many components missing. Analysis indicates insufficient materials available to create a makeshift power core without risking - **total ship destruction!** \- the integrity of the Orbiter. Energy conversion also judged impossible at the moment between Operator's gear and the power conduit. Energy input from the Operator will likely be required at a later time. Continuing scan."

I closed my eyes and waited for Ordis to report back. After what seemed to be several hours I grew tired, nothing was to be detected and the ship was still stuck in the void. I wasn't blind to how impossible it all seemed though. We needed to design and create a power core for long range FTL jumps with limited computing power, and mine the resources to make it from asteroids with most likely only an Archwing and my gear. And we had limited time and power as I was the only one capable of regenerating energy. It's not the worst yet. I knew the odds of finding anything within range were almost non-existe-

 **No!** I just had to trust Ordis. No point worrying about problems I couldn't solve. My only concern should be recuperating my Void energy and preparing for an Archwing mining operation. If I died, I would at least know I tried everything I could.

"Operator, I have discovered an asteroid field and an exoplanet within a nearby solar system!" Said Ordis, sounding very excited.

Relief flooded my mind as my body relaxed and my lips formed into a large smile.

 _Thank you Ordis!_

"I must say though, it is quite - **Impossible** \- strange. Its star appears to rotate around an exoplanet."

My smile vanished at the implications of his words. Such an occurrence could not be natural. There was only one conclusion: an advanced civilization.

"An undiscovered civilization, maybe even more advanced than the Orokin…" I mused.

This complicated things. Who knew what factions and what conflicts we would find. I would rather die than bring yet another threat for my brothers and sisters to risk their lives against. At the same time, the odds of finding resources, and maybe even a power core or a ship were much higher. It was a gamble as to whether the Orbiter's cloaking technology would be enough to stay undetected while I infiltrated the place for supplies, and on how powerful this civilization is. For all I knew my Warframes would be weaker than their basic troops.

"At this point, it doesn't matter. We need to reach them, and we need to hide the Orbiter from detection upon approach. Also, we need to be able to purge all data and self-destruct the Orbiter if there is a chance we get captured."

"There is one issue, Operator. The system is located one ninth of a parsec from our position. Estimated Void jump duration is five hours. By my calculations we are 12 percent short of the energy required for the jump including the energy the Operator can supply. We won't be able to make it without another power source, and Ordis has detected no other possible destination."

All thoughts vanished at his words, replaced by a fire threatening to consume my emotions. I would not be given hope only to have it crushed again! How **dare** Ordis do this to me. Just like when Slobber was taken from me!

 _Find your way back._

I had to calm down. Ordis was already doing his best. How could I be foolish enough to even feel anger at him for this situation when it was my mistake that led to this? I just had to find a solution to the power issue. Forcing myself to take deep breaths, I dedicated my mind to that simple task until I was capable of thinking calmly again.

I knew I was wasting precious time, but I could not afford to think about it lest I fueled my anger further.

I had to find a way before the Orbiter ran out of energy. Every second counted…

"Ordis, initiate Void jump to that solar system. In fact, keep some energy for the cloaking and sublight engines on arrival. I'll supply the difference." I ordered my Cephalon.

"Operator, you cannot! Even if you could somehow generate sufficient energy, you would not survive such a task. My first directive is to protect you."

"I'm **dead** either way Ordis. Do not **waste** anymore of my time! **Start the Void jump**! " I roared. Guilt coursed through me as I berated one of my oldest companions, but I squashed it down. There would be time for apologies later.

"Ordis is very sorry if he has disappointed you, Operator. Initiating Void jump sequence".

I placed myself in meditation, pouring my power into the engines. The Orbiter began its FTL travel, draining my reserves. My body felt like it was incinerating as I squeezed every ounce of energy I had into the Orbiter.

Yet my mind was fully focused. I quickly ran through every single option I had: my supply of energy restores was all used in my previous mission; the energy from my gear and ammo could not be converted for use by the Orbiter; I had a Trinity Warframe but without an enemy I could not use Energy Vampire to recharge m-

 _You may proceed any way you deem, so long as you succeed._

My train of thought came to a sudden halt as an idea appeared before me, one born out of desperation.

"Ordis, remain silent until I say otherwise." I spoke, forcing my voice to remain neutral.

"Acknowledged, Operator."

 _ ***Brzzzt***_

Activating the Somatic Link, I found myself within the dreamscape, my Warframes surrounding me including an unmoving Valkyr lying down… How was she still there?

 _No time for that!_

I looked around to find my Trinity, colored completely black. I had a Trinity Prime but lost it in another mission and I never took the time to make it again as I rarely used it.

 _ ***Brzzzt***_

I awoke in the Warframe storage unit. Wasting no time, I began grabbing the other Warframes in my possession two by two, carrying them effortlessly to the Operator room. The doors in between were also disabled due to lack of power so I had to force them open, an easy feat for a Warframe's superior strength. Still, I had no time to waste, I needed to execute my plan before my energy would be too low to enable it.

Soon thirty-nine Warframes, only one of which was active, were located in the same room as my real self. I began to execute the only plan I could think of to ensure I had enough power to succeed my mission. Targeting the nearest Warframe, I activated my Trinity's Energy Vampire. The Warframe, a Zephyr, was lifted off the ground as the power began draining it, damaging it, converting it into Void energy absorbed by the other Warframes and my real body. With this, I could create enough power for the Void jump and the cloaking afterwards.

Looking at the Zephyr slowly being consumed, I felt as if the ability had been cast on my own heart, squeezing and crushing it. Why did I keep having to sacrifice and watch everything I had and cared for being destroyed? No. I couldn't afford to think about it. Those feelings only hindered my current mission.

I fixed the Warframe, remembering my times with it. It was the first one whose blueprint I had copied from my clan's dojo. Obtaining it was the first mission I had undertaken with my clan mates. I had loved its wind powers, the freedom I felt as I flew in the air, diving down on unsuspecting foes. I had to stop using it whenever I took Slobber with me; he didn't like being carried in the air nor chasing me around...

I turned away. I had to stop those thoughts. My survival depended on my current actions. I had no time for sentimentalism. The Energy Vampire ended, but the Zephyr Warframe wasn't completely dead yet. I decided to leave it there. Maybe I would get lucky and wouldn't need to finish it off. I chose another Warframe and used Energy Vampire on it.

It was a Limbo. My clan leader's favorite Frame. He would often use its ghost-like abilities, becoming intangible and invulnerable to anything in the material world except other Void powers. I learned to enjoy it in a mission where I used its abilities to walk in front of entire Grineer platoons while my clan mates were sneaking around, stealthily killing them. Our foes saw only me and thought I was the one killing them all, so they focused their firepower on me, vainly attempting to stop me. We had laughed for days afterwards as the Grineer elevated the Limbo Warframe to a terrifying ghost reaping through entire armies unscathed. It was a shame Slobber could not join us as he couldn't sneak well enough for our plan…

I began practicing the Aquarid Narta. I needed something fast, energetic. I needed to vent those feelings and memories before they compromised my mission.

The Void jump lasted about five hours according to the Orbiter's time. To me it felt like an eternity. Most of my Warframes were badly damaged, lying on the floor. Only my Volt Prime, Ash Prime and Inaros Warframes were still unscathed. Just before we finished the FTL jump, I had ordered Ordis to activate the Orbiter's cloaking.

I had considered my options regarding to whatever beings existed, but my conclusion was unchanged. I'd rely on stealth to gather what I needed to fix the Orbiter enough for a jump back home, and if they caught us… Then I'd just have to improvise. Whatever happened, I could not let any alien faction gain knowledge of the Sol System. We already had enough enemies as it was.

However this system was not done surprising me.

"Operator, Ordis has begun scanning the system. Its star, it's - **an aberration to physics!** \- small. Far too small for it to be able to exist."

"This isn't important Ordis! We need to find a spaceship or a station to infiltrate."

"But, operator, the star, not only is it orbiting a planet, it is the size of that planet's moon"

That did get my attention. Even I knew that at that size its mass and pressure wouldn't be enough to trigger the nuclear fusion that makes stars. But I only had three more Warframes intact before my next use of Energy Vampire began to kill off my Warframes and I would prefer to have at least one of them intact for the upcoming infiltration. I had no time to analyze strange phenomena.

"Ignore that. Scan the Orbiter's systems, make sure the jump didn't damage anything further. And find me some targets for infiltration. This was the reason we came here." I was on the verge of shouting at Ordis, again. It was hard enough to keep my focus on the mission without any more distractions.

"Acknowledged, Operator. Systems state unchanged following the Void jump, but the remaining energy is very low. Estimated usage remaining at thirty-two hours of cloaking or a week of controlled sublight speed travelling. While I seek a target, should we approach the planet, or the asteroid field orbiting this… solar system? Either would offer the highest chances of locating a ship or space station."

"How far are we to both destinations? If the asteroid field is close enough then set coordinates to it. Any station there is likely to have lighter defenses than around the only planet and moon."

"The asteroid field's closest point to our current location is estimated at two thousand Astronomical Units. It is close to half the distance from the Sun to the beginning of the Oort cloud. The planet is only 32 Astronomical units, a little bigger than the distance from the Sun to Neptune. - **The asteroid field is way too far! Let's go to the planet!** \- Ordis is setting course for the planet."

"Very well. Let me know as soon as you find something."

A few more hours of travel. At least I could relax and let the Orbiter run on its own supply for a moment. I needed to save my energy to be ready to deploy.

"Operator" Ordis suddenly pulled me out of my thoughts.

"There is a… problem. I am unable to find neither artificial constructs, nor any debris or trash in orbit! It's like there's - **no enemies to kill!** \- no spacefaring civilization here! I can't even find any stray radio signal from the planet nor the moon."

I felt my blood freeze at hearing him. This couldn't be happening. We had bet everything on finding an advanced civilization we could raid for supplies. There had to be something here!

"Ordis, get closer to that planet. Scan its star, find out everything you can about it! And how much longer until we reach the planet?" I would not be so close to success only to fail again!

"We are ten minutes away from geostationary orbit with that planet. I have made our approach from its night side, we're close to their moon."

I couldn't think. At this distance, if there had been any traces of civilization we would have found them by now. How could we have been so wrong? Was the universe playing one last sick joke on me before it finally ended my existence? I would even be **denied** the right to die on the battlefield! To die like a **true** Tenno! My breathing intensified as my thoughts went out of control. I needed to **fight** something! I **needed** an enemy to **tear** apart!

 _Come back home, my child._

How? The universe seemed bent on baiting me then **crushing** a little bit more of me each time!

"Operator. Ordis wants-… I want to discuss for a moment." Ordis interrupted me again.

I knew blaming him for this was wrong. I knew I would regret it if I did shout at my only companion left. He had been nothing but loyal to me. But if he tried to discuss the physics behind this solar system or bring me **another** bad news, I didn't think I could keep myself under control any longer.

"What do you want now?!" I demanded, my voice almost a shout.

He replied in a subdued voice, speaking slowly.

"I'm... sorry, Operator. I know I have been far less effective in this situation than I should've been. With my processing capacity limited, I may not have made the best choices or taken the feelings of the Operator into account. If you wish to - **erase** \- replace... me by another Cephalon after this mission... I'll understand completely. But I promise, I am and will continue to dedicate the entirety of my systems to ensure you survive and make it back home. The odds of success are still above zero, and I will ensure it stays that way."

My strength left as he spoke, my Trinity falling on its knees. My anger was gone without a trace, and I felt tears escape my real body's eyes. Breathing was becoming more difficult. How could I have been contemplating blowing at him just seconds ago?

"Th-Thank you… Ordis" I tried to speak past the lump in my throat. "For what it's worth, I know nothing in here is your fault... I alone am to blame for our current predicament, yet I have dared raise my voice at you. If anything it should me who have to apologize for the unfair way I treated you." I still found breathing to be getting difficult, but I felt as though a great weight was taken off my chest. "Never would I even consider another Cephalon to run my ship. You're doomed to be my partner for the rest of our lives!"

"Of course Operator! Nothing would please Ordis more. - **Let's kill many more foes together** -!" He said with much more enthusiasm. "I have also just finished compiling the results of my scans of the system. It is Void energy Operator! The star radiates Void energy in addition to light and heat! Even stranger, the moon is also radiating Void energy. They are bathing this planet in it!"

It was surprising, though it did help to explain the anomalies around this system. But to me it meant more: a power source for the Orbiter, one that was more than enough to get us back home! I just needed a way to harvest and store a sufficient amount. Now that I was paying attention, I could even feel it in here permeating the air, increasing my energy regeneration by a small yet noticeable margin.

Wait, it really was getting harder to breathe.

"Ordis, check the life support unit!" I ordered.

"Hold on Operator. The Life support is failing!" Came Ordis' panicked reply. "I do not know how this came to happen! My scans didn't pick up any source of damage that could explain it."

This time I would not panic. I would not let my emotions get the better of me. Yet my heart was racing at the news and a deep pit had formed in my stomach.

"How much longer do we have?"

"The oxygen level will drop below critical level in only a few minutes. The Warframes in the room are increasing the rate of oxygen depletion, Operator. Standby. My analysis indicates the planet's atmosphere to be breathable. Setting course for planetary landing."

 _Planetary landing?!_

I was no engineer, and I knew very little of the inner workings of the Orbiter, but even I knew it was not designed to land on a planet. That's why it had landing crafts such as the Liset and the Scimitar. Of course, my landing crafts were all destroyed.

"Ordis, can you even land the Orbiter?"

"The odds of success are less than fifty percent, pushing sublight engines past their safety threshold may decelerate the Orbiter enough to prevent incineration on atmospheric reentry. I do not have enough energy for this task so odds of success are directly dependent on how much energy you can supply, Operator. Dense cloud formation detected near a mountain range. Calculating vector to pass through the cloud and into the mountains to reduce odds of detection by the local life forms."

I didn't like those odds, but I appreciated Ordis' quick thinking. He immediately began the procedure for planetary landing, so I had to hurry and do my part. I needed to supply lots of energy into the ship, very fast. The Orbiter rattled as it descended towards the planet.

The lights dimmed as Ordis redirected all the ship's power into the engines, countering the planet's gravity and slowing us down. But the Orbiter was not designed for this, and it had already sustained heavy damage. If we couldn't slow down enough, it would not survive atmospheric reentry.

I strained myself, channeling all the Void energy I had. At the same time, I was targeting every Warframe in the room with Energy Vampire. Soon all the Warframes were being consumed by the blue glow of the Void power, killing them all and filling my energy reserves. The Orbiter intensified in its rattling, the groaning sound of bending metal echoing all throughout.

It was not enough.

I channeled more and more Void energy through my body, more than it could safely handle. Pain surged through both my Trinity and my real body like bolts of lightning, but I still increased the amount of energy I channeled. The tremors became violent enough that my Trinity had to hold itself tightly to the Somatic link to avoid being knocked around the room the way the corpses of the other Warframes were.

My real body began to bleed internally from the energy overload. I used the Trinity's power to heal me, but for some reason it was having limited effects. It still reduced the damage my body was taking at least. Ordis noticed my situation.

"Operator! - **don't you dare die on me now!** \- just hold on a little bit longer! We've almost completed atmospheric reentry! Approaching the cloud formation."

My only reply was my real body's grunts of pain from the overload. But I knew I would survive the damage, as long as I could heal it with my Trinity. I also had to stay awake. I needed to leave the room as soon as the Orbiter stopped moving, before the lack of oxygen killed me.

Suddenly, alarms resounded throughout the ship. I impatiently waited for Ordis to explain; I had no idea what they meant, but it couldn't be good.

"Proximity radar has detected something solid within the cloud! The cloud formation itself is the solid!" Ordis was practically shouting at this point, panic evident in his tone. "Attempting to correct trajectory - **brace yourself, we're going to crash!** -"

A powerful shock resounded throughout the ship, indicating we had hit something; and most likely destroyed it in the process. My energy was running low again, and this time there were no more Warframes left alive, aside from the Trinity itself.

I had poured everything I had into the ship, and all I felt I could do was wait... and pray.

 _*Scene Break*_

My head was spinning, my vision blurry. I wanted to just lie down and rest. But I shouldn't. Wasn't I dying of something? The room I was in was dark and quiet, and my chair was quite comfortable. It had this complicated name. The Somatic Link wasn't it? What a silly name. Not comfortable at all. Still, there was a Trinity holding me in place. For the life of me I couldn't understand why. Stupid lack of oxygen.

Why couldn't That Trinity just leave me to rest? Probably because I made it hold me. There was a reason. But why couldn't I remember? Was I supposed to do something? Something about my life being in danger? Whatever it was, it could wait for a short nap. But it couldn't. I knew I was dying. But from what? Reluctantly, I tried to rise from my seat. And failed. Why couldn't I stand up? Only my real body was weak. That body didn't move, it sat in the comfy chair. Shouldn't it be doing something else though? But it was so comfortable I could just fall asleep in it. Was it really such a bad thing?

As I touched my Warframe, I willed it to carry me somewhere. I somehow knew that would save me. But it didn't move. Of course! I was supposed to… to do something first… To make it move. What was it? It was so hard to think. Maybe the situation wasn't that bad. I just wanted to lie down and rest.. Yes… Rest would be fine. Perhaps I could even dream.

It was a strange dream. I was walking… My real body somehow in my arms… It felt… familiar. Moving was hard… There was a door in the way… I didn't like it. I forced it open.

After the door… was more darkness. I walked... There was a wall. And a... ceiling. An important ceiling. I grabbed a piece of the ceiling and pulled… No, not a ceiling, a ramp. It fell. Light stabbed everything. The room, the darkness, and me. A small wind blew. I could feel the air. Taste it. No, not taste it, it was called breathing.

Then I remembered. The space station, Slobber, my companions, and my current mission. I breathed deeply, greedily sucking the air to supply my oxygen-deprived brain. Slowly the fog lifted from my mind. Once again I had barely escaped death. I sat on the ground, my mind inside my Trinity, my real body limp in my hands, letting my body recover from the oxygen deprivation it went through. Once I was sure my mind had completely recovered, I could figure what to do next.

The Orbiter was certainly damaged, but to what extend I had no way of checking. Power was completely out, and I myself felt extremely drained. I was not oxygen deprived anymore, but I still felt exhausted. Yet I knew I couldn't sleep just yet. Something could have spotted the Orbiter landing despite the attempts to avoid that, and even if it had landed undetected, a scout could stumble across it.

My mind went to the Valkyr Warframe, to her mutilated form after the Corpus had experimented on her. For me it would be worse. There my Warframes and my real body, and I knew help would never come. I avoided death multiple times just arriving here; I would let myself fail now.

I looked at the body in my Trinity's arms, my real body. It looked so thin and fragile. It was too weak and too much of a weak point to carry anywhere, yet since the Somatic Link wasn't working, physical contact was needed to allow me to wield my Warframe. Worse, it meant I had to somehow keep my real body healthy by myself. A skill most Tenno have long since lost. I had to find enough power for the Orbiter to at least activate the Somatic Link.

One step at a time. I needed to secure the Orbiter first.

My Trinity carrying my body on its shoulders, I went to the armory, taking care to open and keep open every door on the way to let the air flow a little. I grabbed the first weapons I could, a Lex semi-auto pistol, some Kunai throwing knives and a Heat sword. Then I grabbed as many remote observers as I could. They were little more than remote controlled cameras, but I could use them to set up a surveillance network around the Orbiter's landing site. I refused to consider it a crash site, that would be an insult to Ordis' efforts.

It took me a little less than an hour to setup my surveillance network, but at least I would be able to spot possible threats before they noticed me. Next step was to remove any organic and Infested tissue in storage, whether they were part of my resources or my arsenal. Without power they would decay fast and could turn into a deadly hazard. I gathered them all into one of the more isolated rooms then set them all ablaze with the Ignis flamethrower. I waited until nothing but ashes remained. Once I was not in any immediate danger and I had a rudimentary security system, I could analyze my current status and update my mission objectives.

My knowledge of my surroundings was limited, and rather conflicting. No signals of any kind detected, so likely a primitive civilization, if there is one at all, yet there were clouds solid enough to impact with my Orbiter. I knew the area I landed in was mountainous, making it difficult to scout and recon, but should also reduce accessibility to my ship from land-based beings. Strategically I was in a very bad position. Tenno engaged in guerilla only warfare. Having an objective to defend for an indefinitely long period of time was much more complicated.

There was no doubt however that any faction who discovered me would want to take my ship and gear apart and study it to advance themselves. I would end up a lab rat, subjected to countless experiments as my Warframes would be torn apart before my eyes…

My hand went to the Les ax at my side and gripped it tightly as I checked the cameras for the fifth time in Still, superior gear meant I could dominate any opponent as long as I fought cleverly, and perhaps I could convince them the dangers of making an enemy of a Tenno far outweighed any potential gains. I had to.

The Orbiter's state was only guesswork at this point, but it didn't seem to have taken any more damage from the planetary landing. It still needed repairs, and a power source, at least enough to maintain the Somatic Link working and the Foundry. Plus, until there was enough power Ordis would not be able to work. What if he got damaged and wouldn- No! I refused to even consider this possibility. I will awaken him again, and I not will anything get to him.

As far as gear was concerned, I still had dozens of remote observers that I could use when I ran scouting missions of my own, and since the armory was intact, the Warframe weapons were all functioning. Ammo would be an issue until I had enough energy to run the foundry and make more. Storage was well supplied with all the resources I had obtained through my missions. Still, without organic tissue I could not rebuilt any Warframes, so I had to be cautious and not lose the only one I had left.

I was expecting life forms to be primitive, lacking any sort of robotics or advanced armor. Similarly, advanced biology, the kind of which led to the Infestation was unlikely to be found.

It limited weapons to plain bows or crossbows, with the possibility of some gunpowder-based weapons. Melee would be similar to my own in style, but made of much more primitive materials, thus weak. Armor would be equally basic, and support could come in the shape of ballistae or canons at most, difficult to deploy in the mountainous terrain I was currently in. Still, I had no idea of their numbers and I could not retreat from this place, so I could be overwhelmed or defeated by attrition if they could field enough troops and knew of this location. And I had to be careful about the Void. It was bathing this planet, and may probably eschew my predictions. The laws of physics tend to vanish whenever Void energy became involved, and thus this world likely had plenty of strange sights and phenomena. The solid clouds my ship crashed through came to mind. There was also the chance of other Void users, which could be formidable foes.

Based on my analysis, I began gearing up. First was the Opticor, a heavy caliber weapon capable of firing a powerful laser bolt. Ideal at medium to long range, it boasted the highest penetrating power of all my weapons, allowing it to hit heavily armored targets even behind heavily fortified positions, though it had a charging time of two seconds. Against Void users it may be necessary, against anything else it was just overkill. My second weapon was the Kulstar mini-rocket launcher. Its projectiles released bomblets for secondary explosions on impact, ideal for clearing larger groups of foes with minimal ammo. Third in my arsenal were dozens of Despair throwing knifes. These deadly knives had an edge measured in nanometers, made of the same self-regenerating alloy most Tenno weapons use. They were ideal for silent takedowns and could be recovered after combat. Lastly I grabbed my Glaive Prime. The three-edged disk could be used to great effect in melee or thrown in short ranges like a boomerang. Like all Tenno melee weapons, it could channel Void energy, unleashing devastating blows, effective even against skilled Void users.

Still, I had one more issue: my real body.

Carrying it around meant mobility was severely limited, as many movements that were normal to the Warframe generated enough Gs to damage it. I had no idea if I could even find sustenance for it in this world, or what was sustenance to it. I knew general terms about human eating habits, but not whether they still applied to Tenno. Reactivating the Somatic Link couldn't come soon enough.

My objectives were multiple. But the most pressing ones were simple: ensure the Orbiter's landing site was kept secure and keep my body alive while I figured out how to power up the Somatic Link. During that time, I would be handicapped so I had to avoid any civilization at all costs. I wouldn't give them a chance to capture me.

Once the Somatic Link was running, my body would be safe once more and I could explore my surroundings further. I needed to find any civilized life forms first, taking the initiative and dictating the terms of engagement, or negotiations if the latter was a possibility.

From there I would move on to fix the Orbiter and procure a power source sufficient to get me back home.

I was finally ready. It was time to go explore this new world. Or it would have been, had a check on the remote observers not spotted something moving towards the Orbiter. A flying life form was approaching, heading straight for my ship's location.

This was bad. This was **really** bad! I had not had time to gather any intel on the surroundings, and I had no idea of the full potential might of any faction here. I would be found out first, losing the initiative. With my real body crippling my fighting ability, I would lose. And get **captured**! This could not be allowed to happen. I couldn't give them a chance to get me or the Orbiter. This life form was threatening to ruin all my plans by its very **presence**!

It had to die.

I drew the Opticor, then moved outside and took sniping position, using an irregularity in the Orbiter's hull to conceal myself. At the current distance it was flying, it should arrive in a couple of minutes. As the being approached, I zoomed in with the cameras in order to get a better view of the threat. It was colored as black as the night, no doubt a camouflage, however that was the only part that made sense. It was an equine with a horn, flying with feathered wings and a regalia of a crescent moon on its flanks. Its mane seemed to be made of the same materials as the rare syandana cloaks, star-like dots in its dark blue color completing its camouflage.. Feathers and fur together was not a natural combination. This indicated this species was most likely engineered, so there could be another race with a much higher technology level I somehow missed. Perhaps they were destroyed by their creations like the Orokin. Regardless, I mentally raised the threat levels this world possessed, and tentatively labeled the equine as a scout.

It set down a couple of meters away from my ship and started to walk towards it, alert for any sort of activity. What a foolish move. It gave up its aerial advantage before it had ensured no threats existed. I was not going to miss this opportunity.

The Opticor hummed to life as I pulled the trigger, releasing a golden laser beam. The scout heard the weapon charging. Its horn lit up as a dark blue energy shield intercepted my beam and deflected it away. A Void shield! This creature could channel Void powers! And its reaction time, clearly it has battle experience. But it needed more than that to defeat me.

It attempted to take off but I was ready for it. I channeled my Void energy and used Energy Vampire to paralyze it and replenish my barely sufficient energy reserves.

And then it somehow nullified the ability. For a second my thoughts were interrupted by this simple fact. The creature didn't miss this opportunity and took off.

Only one being had the capacity to dispel Tenno skills in combat that wasn't the Corpus Nullifiers: the Shadow Stalker. Only highly trained Tenno are able to go toe to toe with him, and even then it can end up gruesome. Reports are that entire squads of Warframes and even some raid teams have fallen to him. If this thing was somewhat like the Stalker…

No, I would not lose to it. I've faced the Shadow Stalker and won, multiple times in all kinds of situations. This scout would **not** escape from me! I noticed that its horn had lit up when it dispelled my Energy Vampire as well. It was most likely the source of its Void powers. If I could damage it, my victory was assured.

It continued to circle in the skies narrowly avoiding most of my incoming fire, its shield absorbing the rest. It was choosing to not attack back, most analyzing my weapons and tactics. It was also shouting something at me, no doubt taunting me or threatening me. It seemed upset more than confident so I opted for the latter. That was good, uncontrolled anger always led to mistakes.

Another shot headed straight for it head was absorbed by its shield. Not even the heaviest Corpus proxies have shields that strong! Its powers were at least as strong as a Warframe's! Still, even a Warframe could be defeated with the right tactics, and I was looking forward to overcoming the equine's defenses.

Before I could fire another shot it turned away and started gaining distance. It was trying to escape! Images came to me of my body strapped on a bed, equine creatures in lab coats surrounding me as they were slowly dissecting it to study me. My Warframes were in different beds, suffering the same fate. I would not let this happen! My Warframe could keep up with it thanks to its strength and parkour skills, but the maneuvers would put a dangerous strain on my body. There was no choice in this situation. I grabbed my body with one hand, holding it in fetal position against the Trinity's chest and gave chase.

I had a plan to get through its shield. A smart combination of my equipment should defeat it. I sheathed the Opticor and took out the Glaive Prime. I charged it with Void energy, making it glow white, then threw it against a cliff near the fleeing scout with all my strength. The Glaive Prime bounced against the cliff, heading straight for the surprised equine. A quick Energy Vampire stopped it right in the path of the projectile. I wasted no time and took out some Despairs, throwing them with all my strength. As my Glaive reached the equine's barrier, the Void energy within was released, unleashing a powerful explosion. The scout was thrown of course and into the path of the Despair I had thrown. Before the first one could hit however, the creature grabbed it in a telekinetic grip and threw it aside, its shield coming back to life to deflect the others.

Such reflexes! And to think it was still hiding most of its skillset. If it was fighting me seriously and I was not handicapped...

The pressure from the high speed chase was affecting my body however. It was grunting heavily in pain and blood started flowing from its mouth, nose and ears. The creature noticed it as well. It hovered in place and faced me, shouting again in its strange language and pointing one its hooves in my direction. This was bad, it must have realized my body was being hurt and would no doubt take advantage of it. I took a defensive stance, preparing myself for an incoming attack.

It never came. Instead the equine turned around and continued flying away. Only one conclusion from its strange behavior. Whatever faction would want me undamaged for study, preventing it from engaging me in battle properly. I felt disappointed as I realized that I would not be getting a good fight. Still, I couldn't let it escape. Using my ability to heal some of my body's wounds, I gave chase, planning my next attack.

When it realized I was still on its tail, it stopped again. This time however, it flew straight for me, its horn glowing. Perhaps I was wrong about its purpose then. Still, this was my chance to strike it.

I began channeling another Energy Vampire, but before I could release it, my Warframe was encased in a blue glow and lifted off the ground, immobilized. In the same instant, my Opticor, Despair kunais and Glaive Prime were grabbed away from me and brought next to the creature, which had come to land a few meters away from my position. It had narrowed it eyes at me and shouted again, much more aggressively than before. It kept emphasizing whatever point it was making by pointing its right front hoof at my real body.

Now I was sure it wanted me alive and as healthy as possible. It didn't notice the Kulstar as a weapon, so I still had an opportunity. It would pay dearly for trying to capture me. I tested that its telekinetic hold did not impede my own powers, then used an Energy Vampire right as I drew and shot at the ground beneath it with the Kulstar. Its shield faltered as the mini rocket exploded, then the bomblets broke through it, knocking the equine in the air. Its telekinesis dispelled, I dashed towards my fallen weapons while firing another rocket from the Kulstar. Even if it could somehow avoid this shot, I could overwhelm it with a combination of my powers, my Kulstar, and in two seconds the Glaive Prime and the Despair. Victory was finally mine.

Then, I felt another presence approaching as the area was bathed in light. Snarling, I turned around to see another winged equine, a white one this time, bearing down on me. Within a second three things happened. The white equine teleported next to the dark one. It covered them both with a shield of blinding light, deflecting the incoming rocket. Finally, it shot a beam of pure white light at me. This level of Void manipulation… not even the best Tenno could hope to match that casting speed. Still, it did not chain it into a further attack. A skilled warrior should always assume their attack can fail and prepare the next one. This was an opportunity I had to exploit.

That is of course, if I could first dodge the incoming energy beam. The body I was carrying, my real body, prevented that. I attempted to use Link to channel the damage from the attack back to the two equines, but just as the tendrils of Void energy left my Warframe for my enemies, the beam hit me. I attempted to block the attack, keeping my real body away from the line of fire.

The blow was too strong however. My Trinity was knocked away, releasing the grip between it and my body. My consciousness jerked violently as it was expelled from my Warframe and back into my body forcefully. I was now just a weak Tenno, barely even able to stand on its own feet. After helping the dark equine to its feet, the white colored one began stepping towards my Warframe, as the dark one walked towards me, speaking to me in a softer voice.

Still, I refused to give up. Rage gave me enough strength to stand on my knees.. There was one more attack I could perform. My focus skill. I was a follower of the Naramon path, one who sought to understand the enemy in order to gain advantage over it. But my focus ability would likely fail against these equines; it only held the Stalker for a few seconds, and I was not in a position to make use of such a small opportunity. So instead I attempted to use the Madurai focus ability.

I channeled all my focus, willing to coalesce my energy into one deadly beam. It was not easy. I had studied the Madurai way before, but I had never unlocked their special ability. As I channeled more and more power, I was slowly losing control over it. I envisioned focusing my entire wrath into one point, then unleashing it upon the two equines. My body, supercharged with Void energy, began floating off of the ground. The two equines were staring at me wide eyed, the dark one shouting something at me. Then, the energy rushed out.

 _No! Not yet!_

I couldn't control it anymore. This couldn't be happening! I couldn't fail here! In my desperation I tried to focus the energy blast away from me and towards the two equines. A blinding wave of Void energy spread all around me, swallowing both equines as well as my Trinity. The power died down after a few seconds. The ground around me was scorched, aside from two small patches of grass around the two equines. The white one has shielded my Trinity from the attack, judging by the shape of the patch of grass at their feet.

This was it. My last gamble had failed. Once again I had failed when it mattered most.

 _Not again!_

I wanted to scream. I wanted to lash out. I had to kill those creatures. I needed to tear their bodies apart! To **rip** their wings and their horns away! Too weak to do anything else, I channeled all my rage into a murderous stare. It was the last act of defiance I could do, so I made sure it would haunt their memories for the rest of their lives.

Then, something unexpected happened. Trinity moved. Without any input from me. I had heard it happened once before to a Tenno, during the Second Dream, but it was a one in a lifetime fluke that saved his life. Yet my Trinity had moved. I forced myself to crawl towards my Warframe. Still lying down, she grabbed the hoof of the white equine with one hand, and took out the Kulstar with the other. At this distance? No! The explosi-

She fired.

The dark equine was the only one who reacted in time, forming a shield that encompassed the other one, protecting it from the attack. Smoke erupted from the explosions, blocking my view of the aftermath. Not that I needed to see it to know what had happened. Trinity fired a powerful explosive at near point blank range. Once again, this world had sent me one more ray of hope before crushing it mercilessly. I had completely lost.

I screamed.

The dark equine looked at me, then, while it spoke softly, its horn lit up. My strength left me, and I was once again plunged into sleep, my dreamscape opening up to me. It was over. My last waking thoughts were of the Orbiter, how I had failed to destroy the data inside before they could procure it.

How I had failed everyone.

 _Come back home, my child. You may proceed any way you deem, so long as you succeed._

Mother… I'm… sorry…


End file.
